The Hindu Business Line : Most counters end lower

For the week, the S&P 500 jumped 2.3 per cent, which is according to Bloomberg, the steepest gain since March. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.3 per cent and the Nasdaq 2.9 per cent.

After a see-saw, the domestic bourses managed to end in positive territory on Friday’s recovery. Both the BSE Sensex and the NSE’s S&P CNX Nifty rose two per cent last week.

Despite strong show by both the markets, only a few Indian ADRs were able to finish on a better note.

As many as eight Indian ADRs ended the week on a negative note against five that ended in positive territory.

Among the biggest gainers was Patni Computers. The ADR gained 18.6 per cent on the back of reports that private equity firms are close to buying a stake in the $1.3-billion software services firm.

A NDTV Profit report quoting sources said that stake sale deal will conclude in two weeks from now. Mr Gajendra Patni and Mr Ashok Patni will sell a little over 15 per cent of their total stake of 29 per cent in the company. Besides, General Atlantic is likely to completely exit the company; it currently holds 16 per cent stake. PE funds Apax Partners and Texas Pacific are in the race to pick up the stakes on offer.

Apart from Patni, Sterlite Industries was the star performer, with the ADR gaining by about 10 per cent; underlying strength in commodity markets seemed to have pushed up the counter.

Infosys, Satyam Computer and Wipro dropped marginally; the biggest loser was Rediff.com, which shed 9.7 per cent last week.

While HDFC Bank finished a tad better at $84.3 ($84.95), ICICI Bank ended one per cent lower at $42.47 ($42.92).

With the underlying stocks performing better, premium of ADRs dipped though that of Wipro and Infosys inched up just marginally.

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