The Hindu Business Line : Patni Computer steals the limelight

The US stocks remained flat but ended the week on a positive note, a third straight week as investors continued to guess whether the US Federal Reserve would raise interest rate or not.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 0.1 per cent to 1279.36 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.2 per cent to 11,240.35. However, the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.4 per cent to 2085.05.

Renewed buying

On the other hand, domestic bourses witnessed renewed buying on the back of strong quarterly financial performance by India Inc. Thanks to foreign institutional buying, the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive index ended at a 11-week high of 10,866.51 against last weekend's close of 10,680.23. The National Stock Exchange's S&P CNX Nifty also spurted by 45.95 points or 1.47 per cent to end the week at 3,176.75.

Among the Indian ADRs, Patni Computer Systems stole the limelight by gaining 23 per cent during the week. The company announced a loss of Rs 17.13 crore for its second quarter ended June 2006 against a profit of Rs 57.95 crore reported during the corresponding period last year. This was mainly due to higher tax outgo on account of charges relating to earlier periods. Adjusted for this charge, the company reported solid growth and that appears to have found favour with the Street.

Apart from Patni, only ICICI Bank, Tata Motors and Wipro finished in positive zone.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd, which announced that it received approval to sell its copy of Merck & Co's prostate drug Proscar in the US, finished weak at $30.32 (30.43).

Infosys announced a three-year Center of Excellence agreement with Triumph Group Inc, but the ADR finished lower at $41.55 ($41.66).

MTNL, which said that its Q1 profit fell 17 per cent, ended on weak note at $6.07 ($6.37). Likewise, VSNL also announced a drop in Q1 profit by 31 per cent and the counter finished sharply lower at $15.87 ($16.48).

However, Tata Motors Ltd which said that its automobile sales rose by 45 per cent in July finished firm at $16.2 ($15.94).

WNS, the recently listed ADR, also finished firm at $25.09 ($24.7) and against its issue price of $20.

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