The Hindu Business Line : Infosys leads recovery

SOARING oil prices or the killer Katrina hurricane - nothing seemed to have affected the US benchmarks. Riding on oil shares, the US indices posted smart turnaround last week with the S&P's 500 gaining 1.1 per cent to 1218.02 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.5 per cent to 10,447.37. According to Bloomberg data, both advanced for the first week in three.

The Nasdaq Composite Index jumped one per cent to 2141.07 - its first weekly gain in last five weeks.

The continued faith imposed by FIIs on the domestic markets took the benchmark indices - the BSE Sensex and the NSE's S&P CNX Nifty - to new heights. The BSE Sensex registered its new high at 7928.07 before ending the week at new record closing of 7899.77 points - a gain of 2.86 per cent; the S&P CNX Nifty rebounded 2.5 per cent to 2415.80.

The Indian ADRs also registered smart gains. Except for Dr. Reddy's Lab, Sify and Rediff.com, others ended in positive territory.

Leading the gainers' pack was Infosys Technologies. The company's announcement that it has signed a five-year global deal to develop, support and enhance a wide spectrum of applications for ABN Amro pushed up the ADR to above $70 mark; it closed the week at $71.7 against the previous week close of $69.94, a gain of 2.54 per cent. This bullish trend also imparted a positive impact on Satyam and Wipro as they closed at $28.19 ($27.02) and $10.01 ($9.66) respectively.

Meanwhile, the Wipro Chairman, Mr Azim Premji, said he would dilute his stake in the company at an appropriate time. Mr Premji, who owns about 82 per cent in Wipro, is required to reduce his holdings in the company after SEBI's recent norm said that all companies must over the next two years ensure that the public holds at least 25 per cent.

Tata Motors climbed to $11.03 ($10.74) after the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, said that the Government may soon cut taxes levied on small cars.

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