The Hindu Business Line : VSNL in limelight

THANKS to the strong showing by steel major Nucor Corp, the US markets ended last week on a positive note. As a result, last week the S&P 500 rose 1.1 per cent; according to Bloomberg data, the broad-based index gained 6.1 per cent so far this quarter. The Dow average gained 0.6 per cent for its fourth weekly increase in five. The Nasdaq added 1.5 per cent, rounding out its fifth jump in six weeks.

Domestic markets braved the Reliance's `ownership issues' to end on a firm note, thanks mainly to the unstinted foreign institutional investors' support. On the back of FIIs sustained buying, the BSE Sensex closed above the 6000-mark at a 46-week high of 6035.03, a gain of 1.23 per cent over the previous week close. On the NSE, the S&P CNX Nifty gained 1.53 per cent.

Moving on to the ADR performance, except HDFC Bank, other counters closed last week on a positive note. Leading the gainers' pack were Tata Motors and ICICI Bank. The former ended at $10.51 against the previous week close of ($9.76) and the latter at $18.25 ($17.45). Ever since the banking industry started increasing interest rates, banking counters have been in the limelight. Besides, ICICI Bank informed the stock exchanges that FIIs need RBI's permission to buy its domestic equities as the overseas buyers' limit had reached the trigger limit of 49 per cent.

Among the infotech counters, Wipro finished on a firm note at $23.66 ($22.62) while Infosys ended flat at $65.7 ($65.51) even as Satyam jumped to $26.84 ($25.89). During the week, Infosys announced the settlement of sexual harassment suits filed in the US.

However, the strong gainers during the week were Internet counters - Sify and Rediff.com. While the former closed at $6.17 ($5.58), the latter jumped sharply to $8.65 ($7.87).

Dr. Reddy's Lab also ended on a strong note at $17.95 ($17.48). While VSNL finished higher at $9.62 ($8.39), MTNL inched up to $8.6 ($8.17).

There was no major deviation on the premium/discount front for ADRs, as most of them maintained around the previous week levels.

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