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K.S. Badri Narayanan

THE US markets were flat during last week after Ebay Inc, the Internet auctioneer firm, belied market expectations by announcing shortfall in profits. The S&P 500 added 0.1 per cent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.5 per cent while the Nasdaq lost 0.2 per cent during last week. According to Bloomberg, the Dow reached its highest closing level in more than 17 months earlier this week, while the Nasdaq touched the highest since January 2002.

On the other hand, thanks to strong financial performances from corporates such as Reliance Industries and Wipro and continued foreign fund flows kept the market under bull grip. The Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index gained 3.39 per cent while the National Stock Exchange's S&P CNX Nifty 3.04 per cent.

Despite lacklustre trend at the US markets, most Indian counters witnessed a firm trend. In fact, as many as four counters hit their 52-week highs, while Infosys is ruling near its year high level.

After scaling to new 52-week level at $28.33, Dr. Reddy's Lab closed the week higher at $27.12 against the previous week close of $26.25 on hopes that the US Food and Drug Administration would approve an alternative method to clear some generic drugs, including Dr. Reddy's.

However, it were the tech counters, which shot into the limelight. After Infosys Technologies announced a strong Q2 performance, Wipro chipped in this week with a similar performance.

Beating market expectations, Wipro reported a net profit of Rs 214.80 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2003 as compared to Rs 209 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2002. Total income improved to Rs 1,228.50 crore (Rs 1,004.90 core). As a result, Wipro and Satyam touched their new 52-week highs at $37.40 and $17.5 respectively. Satyam is scheduled to announce its second quarter financial performance on October 23.

Infosys, which said that it had bagged an order from Fujitsu of Japan, closed the week higher at $80.30 ($77.56).

The other counter, which hit 52-week high during the week, was HDFC Bank; the counter closed at $25.87 ($24) after registering its year high of $25.95. The bank had reported a positive Q2 performance last week.

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