The Hindu Business Line : IT counters turn weak; Satyam worst hit

It was a mixed feeling for the US markets - the concern about US Federal Reserve will raise the key interest rates on the one hand, and a healthy job data - the best start since 2000 on the other, kept the market in a tight range. The S&P-500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 0.1 per cent while the Nasdaq slipped less than 0.1 per cent.

The Indian bourses though were in the bull orbit on the first four days last week; they witnessed a wild swing on Friday. Despite a sharp drop on Friday, the BSE Sensex and the NSE's S&P Nifty managed the week with a gain of 2.7 per cent and 1.5 per cent respectively.

IT was a mixed show by the Indian ADRs as well.

Tech counters were the worst hit on the back of reports that CLSA Asia-Pacific has downgraded Indian software stocks due to concern over higher-than-expected wage inflation and on more intense competition. Infosys even announced its plans to consider bonus issue on April 14 when the company's board meets for full-year and Q4 results. It finished weak at $75.85 against the previous week close of $77.86. As a result of the divergent trend between the ADR and the underlying stock, Infy's premium slumped sharply to 7.06 per cent (16.55 per cent).

Satyam was the worst hit among the IT stocks with the ADR crashing by over 10 per cent and its premium halved to 7.24 per cent (14.97 per cent). Wipro and Patni Computers also finished weak at $19.95 ($20.45) and $14.55 ($14.87) respectively.

Among the gainers' list was Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd; the ADR gained marginally at $31.75 ($31.40). The company announced that it received tentative approval from the US FDA to sell an altered version of Pfizer Inc.'s hypertension drug Norvasc in the US.

However, the star performers were the banking counters - ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank; while the former moved up to $28.2 ($27.68) the latter gained sharply to $56.93 ($54.50).

MTNL recorded its 52-week high during intra-week at $9.12 before ending on Friday at $8.6 ($8.3). VSNL also registered its new year high.

Tata Motors hit a new year high at $21.99 before settling for the week at $21 ($20.84). It reported a record sale of 4.54 lakh vehicles (including exports) for the fiscal year 2005-06

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