Date:09/07/2007 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/07/09/stories/2007070950820400.htm

Back Strong show by Indian counters

K.S. BADRI NARAYANAN

The US stocks maintained their upward movement for the second consecutive week, with the S&P 500 posting its biggest weekly gain since April.

The benchmark jumped 1.8 per cent for the week while the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.5 per cent and the Nasdaq surged 2.4 per cent.

According to Bloomberg, it was the biggest weekly for Nasdaq since the week ended March 23.

Back home, the Indian benchmarks scaled new peaks, thanks to strong FII buying.

Both the Sensex and the NSE Nifty registered new landmarks, with the former hitting the 15,000-mark and the latter the 4,400-mark. While the Sensex gained 2.14 per cent, the NSE Nifty climbed 1.54 per cent.

It was a strong show by the Indian ADRs. Except Patni Computers, all the other counters ended in positive territory, and with gains ranging from 2.5 per cent to 7.5 per cent.

The top performer was the recently listed Sterlite Industries. The ADR gained 7.43 per cent to close at $15.76 against the previous close of $14.67. Tata Motors was the second biggest gainer by 7.12 per cent at $1 7.59 ($16.42).

Wipro, which announced the acquiring of Unza Holdings Ltd, a Singapore-based FMCG for an all-cash consideration of Rs 1,010 crore, closed at $16.08 ($15.55), a gain of 3.4 per cent.

Among the IT majors, Satyam was the star performer, gaining six per cent to close at $26.26 ($24.76).

Infosys, which is scheduled to announce its first-quarter numbers on July 11, closed with a gain of 4.38 per cent.

Both the banking counters – HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank – also gained by 4.16 per cent and 4.3 per cent respectively.

The premium/discount for ADRs almost remained around the previous week’s levels.