The Hindu Business Line : Most counters end weak

The US markets were cautious last week on mixed signals. Reports on economic indicators and jobless claims spurred speculation that Federal Reserve may keep raising interest rates to tame inflation, rising oil prices following Saudi Arabia blasts checked the market progress.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq inched up by 0.2 per cent while the DJ Industrial Average declined 0.5 per cent.

Indian bourses continued their relentless bull run though profit-taking capped the gains; the BSE Sensex gained 2.20 per cent and the NSE Nifty 2.3 per cent.

Majority of the Indian ADRs slipped but Dr. Reddy's Lab finished on firm note. The Dr Reddy's ADR touched a 52-week high of $30.41 before closing at $29.2 against the previous week close of $28.43. This was on the back of reports that the company won the US FDA approval to sell the antibiotic ofloxacin in the US.

Among the major loser was MTNL whose ADR slipped sharply to $6.97 ($7.25), a drop of 3.86 per cent. VSNL also slipped 3.76 per cent to $16.78 ($17.43) All the IT counters - Infosys, Wipro, Satyam and Patni Computers - ended the week a tad lower.

While Satyam said it plans to start a software development centre in Kolkata, Wipro announced the buying of the US-based cMango Inc for $20 million.

Internet counters Sify and Rediff.com were the major gainers at $12.82 ($12.28) and $25.85 ($24.15).

MTNL and VSNL also saw their premium declining; while the MTNL ADR now trades at a premium of 5.43 per cent (9.81 per cent),

VSNL now rules in discount at .12 per cent against last week premium of 2.86 per cent).

Apart from these, Satyam ADR's premium also fell to 16.94 per cent (21.59 per cent).

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