The Hindu Business Line : Party time over for tech majors

LED by companies such as Microsoft Corp and Merck & Co, which have reported disappointing quarterly sales, the US markets registered declines for the first time in four weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 1.4 per cent for the week to 9582.46 and the S&P 500 lost one per cent. According to Bloomberg, both these benchmarks had their weekly declines since the five-day period ending September 26. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped for the second straight week, declining 2.4 per cent.

Domestic markets were volatile during the week. Profit-bookings coupled with local mutual funds' selling set the correction tone However, FIIs' unstinted support helped the markets recover partially. After touching an intra-week low of 4599.61, the BSE Sensex recovered to close at 4802.28 (on Saturday) as against the previous week close of 4930.53. The NSE's S&P CNX Nifty closed the week lower at 1521.95 (1569.45).

The indifferent sentiment at the US bourses coupled with Microsoft's cautious outlook spoiled the party for the Indian ADRs, particularly tech counters. This was despite Satyam Computer announcing an impressive second quarter financial performance. For the quarter ended September 2003, Satyam posted a net profit of Rs 147.59 crore as against Rs 118.90 crore recorded for the same period last fiscal, registering a jump of over 24 per cent.

Satyam Computer closed the week lower at $16.65 ($17) while Infosys dropped to $79 ($80.30) and Wipro slipped to $33.55 ($36.90).

In fact, almost all the counters closed the week in negative territory. Even HDFC Bank, which registered its 52-week high at $26.03 during the week, slipped to close at $25.40 ($27.12).

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