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Anand Ram

Ranbaxy Laboratories: Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals (a wholly-owned subsidiary) has in its alliance with US-based CorePharma, received FDA approval to manufacture and market a generic version of the drug Adderall, a medication addressing the nervous system. Ranbaxy is also buoyant about US GAAP compliance later this year, a subsequent ADR issue and setting up a manufacturing base in Brazil.

Prices moved from Rs 849.60 at the end of last week to close at Rs 884.80, this Friday, registering a gain of over 4 per cent.

Vysya Bank: This counter is one exception to the fundamentals-in-sync-with-price banner above. However, the development of ING Group acquiring a 23.99 per cent stake of the bank from the GMR Group is too important to ignore.

Prices firmed up in the beginning of the week - much before the stake acquisition was actually announced - confirming market imperfection. As the week progressed, prices dipped near to the Rs 315 range.

However, there was a strong spurt in volumes on Friday and a marginal rise in prices as the stock closed at Rs 316.60. Price change through the week amounted to a decrease of Rs 0.55.

B P L / Videocon: Both these stocks saw a borderline rise in their stock prices this week even as the Securities Appellate Tribunal rescinded SEBI's ruling that banned Videocon Appliances and BPL from the accessing the capital markets.

The move seems to have had a salutary effect just after the announcement (BPL up by Rs 2.15 and Videocon up by Rs 0.15), though for the week as a whole the impact is close to neutral.

Bank of Baroda: Share prices of the bank were range-bound through the week though closing prices on Thursday swung up by over 5 per cent after the Central Government approved the amalgamation of Benares State Bank with Bank of Baroda.

Branches of Benares State bank will now function as branches of BoB. For the week as a whole, price appreciation approximated to 4.3 per cent as shares closed at Rs 62 on Friday.

Reliance Industries: Though hard to say if prices were driven by fundamentals, intrinsic developments this week were definitely in favour of the company. Reliance Industries received Government nod to acquire five oil and gas blocks from Ireland's Tullow Oil Plc. The agreement, to be in place in the next two weeks, has been said to confer operatorship on all the five blocks to the company.

Although confined to a narrow trading band in the vicinity of Rs 280, prices nevertheless appreciated by Rs 2.30 over last week's close to end at Rs 284.10 this Friday.

Dr Reddy's Labs: This counter could not quite get its act together this week as the company stared at a suit slapped by Pfizer alleging infringement of patent rights on an anti-hypertension drug, Norvasc. The company has now to wait awhile before commencing sales of the generic version of this drug in the US.

Share prices seemed reflective of factoring this news in, as they tumbled steadily through the week. The stock closed at Rs 963.35, shedding 3.5 per cent of last week's valuation.

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