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The global tsunami that started from the US showed no signs of abatement, as week after week the equities tumbled to new lows leaving the investors battered. Last week the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 5.35 per cent, while the broad-market S&P’s 500 index retreated 6.78 per cent and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite plunged 9.3 per cent.

The fall was quite heavy on the back of strong FII selling. The BSE Sensex tumbled 12.77 per cent and the NSE’s S&P CNX Nifty by 15.95 per cent.

Among the ADRs, Tata Motors was the worst affected as the counter plunged by more than 29 per cent to end at $3.96 ($5.59). The stock has been hammered as it rights issue failed to evoke desired response. Tata Motors was unable to cover its Rs 4,150 crore rights issue after its share price fell well below the offer prices. Tata Motors had said that the proceeds of its two issues would be used to make an early repayment on some of the short-term funding of its $2.3-billion acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford Motor.

Sterlite Industries was the next big losers as its ADR tumbled by 24 per cent to end at $4.01 ($5.32), as commodity stocks turned unfavourable for global investors.

The fall was not that penetrating for IT counters; Infosys Technologies fell 2.85 per cent, Satyam Computer declined by 6.95 per cent and Patni Computer by 7.12 per cent. The company has posted an 18.76 per cent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 978.2 crore for the second quarter of this fiscal, against Rs 823.7 crore in the same period last fiscal. But its revenue forecast for the current quarter at $1.12 billion, barely ahead of its July-September revenue of $1.11 billion, seemed to have affected the sentiment for the counter.

Dr Reddy’s Lab saw a relatively marginal of 5.24 per cent at $8.32 ($8.78), despite weak financial performance. The company reported a 38-per cent growth in revenues at Rs 1,620 crore for the second quarter ended September 30 from Rs 1,250 crore in the same period a year ago. Profit after tax during the Q2 stood at Rs 120 crore against Rs 100 crore during Q2 in FY 2007-08.

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