The Hindu Business Line : Infosys in spotlight

FEARS that the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates continued to haunt the US markets as they finished on a weak note. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index witnessed its fourth weekly drop in five; the S&P 500 fell 0.8 per cent to 1098.70. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.1 per cent to 10,117.34 and the tech-laced Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.1 per cent to 1917.96.

The Indian bourses were volatile on poll uncertainty. The exit polls of the prolonged election exercise threw up different results on each phase, leaving investors on tenterhooks. The BSE's Sensitive index finished at 5,669.58, a marginal gain of 14.49 points over the previous week's close. The NSE's S&P CNX Nifty gained 8.35 points at 1,804.45.

For the ADRs, it was a mixed week. While IT majors finished on a firm note, telecom counters such as MTNL and VSNL finished weak. The good showing by IT majors, particularly Infosys, helped the Bank of New York Indian ADR Index finish on a firm note. The index gained 3.12 per cent to 450.31 points (436.42 points).

Wipro last week confirmed that it bagged an order from global oil major Shell. It said, "We have a Master Services Agreement with Shell. The contract is a running contract executed on a continuous basis and no specific value can be attributed upfront to such contracts." Wipro closed the week at $44.5 against the previous week's close of $43.05.

However, Infosys was the star performer of the week, finishing strong at $84 ($80.74).

Dr Reddy's Laboratories said that it bought the US-based Trigenesis Therapeutics, a privately owned maker of dermatology drugs, for $11 million. This announcement seemed to have helped the counter recover and finish marginally higher at $19.7 ($19.6).

The pharma major also said that it withdrew part of its challenge against GlaxoSmithKline Plc's patent on the anti-nausea drug, Zofran, in the US, to speed up litigation once it begins.

ICICI Bank finished with a slight gain at $15.78 ($15.5). The company informed the stock exchanges that Mr L.N. Mittal, Chairman and Chief Executive of Ispat International NV, had bought 0.43 per cent stake in the bank. Mr Mittal, who owns the world's second-largest steelmaker, is a Director on the board of ICICI Bank.

VSNL finished weak at $6.74 ($7.25) despite reports that the company's Internet subscriber base increased by 20 per cent this year. The other telecom major, MTNL, also finished weak at $7.54 ($7.61).

On the premium/discount front, ICICI Bank's premium with respect to its underlying equity jumped to 16.33 per cent from the previous week's premium of 9.41 per cent.

The ADRs of HDFC Bank, Infosys, Wipro and Satyam also widened their premiums.

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Infosys in spotlight