The Hindu Business Line : Indian counters end mixed

According to Bloomberg, it was the best weekly gain since the period ended April 20 and is 0.4 per cent below its all-time high of 1,539.18 reached on June 4.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.6 per cent and the Nasdaq rose 2.1 per cent to close at 2,626.71, the highest since February 6, 2001.

One the other hand, domestic markets were volatile throughout the week but ended in positive territory week-on-week.

IT stocks regained some strength as the rupee turned weak. While the BSE Sensex gained 0.70 per cent, while the S&P CNX Nifty moved up by 0.64 per cent.

However, it was mixed show by Indian ADRs. While Infosys, Wipro and Satyam Computer finished on a firm note, MTNL, ICICI Bank and Tata Motors closed on a weak note, while VSNL and Dr Reddy's Lab on a flat note.

The weakening rupee seemed to have lifted IT counters. Infosys closed at $53.31 ($49.72), Wipro at $16.12 ($16.09) and Satyam at $25.95 ($25.57).

The rupee closed at 40.86/87 a dollar.

It may be recalled that it touched a nine-year peak of 40.28 in late May.

"The rupee appreciation will definitely have an impact on the industry," said Infosys COO Mr Kris Gopalakrishnan last week.

"The estimates depend on how much business happens, in which location and in what currency. Every one percentage point appreciation will have an impact of 30-40 basis points on the margins."

While HDFC Bank finished at $83.38 ($82.7), ICICI Bank ended weak at $46.67 ($46.84).

The latter has plans to raise Rs 10,060 crore from the domestic market and an equivalent amount from the US market.

This appears to have affected the counter, as the issue would impact the bank's EPS.

The premium for the ADRs of Infosys and Wipro also widened by about four percentage points to 8.41 per cent (4.88 per cent) and 24.18 per cent (20.9 per cent) respectively.

For the rest, the change was minimal.

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