| The mood was clearly one of optimism, especially regarding the smooth sail of government's mega public offers which included ONGC. Heavy buying in bluechips at the start of the week set the tone. Old economy scrips joined the party mid-week, making it a broad-based rally. |
| While institutional investors were said to be buying in heavyweight stocks, retail investors also made purchases in mid-caps. However, the three-session winning streak was halted on Thursday with investors booking profits ahead of the opening of the ONGC public offer. |
| However, the overwhelming response to the offer made sure that the bulls ended the week on a high note. |
| L&T Last week's close (Rs) 596.57 Prev. week's close (Rs) 562.93 Week's high (Rs) 600.85 Week's low (Rs) 563.80 Last week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr) 124.51 Prev. week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr) 149.33 Futures close NT Number of up/down move 3/1 |
| L&T advanced nearly 6 per cent last week to close at Rs 596.57. The upsides come on the back of reports that the company has put together nearly Rs 500 crore to acquire turnkey project companies in the US and Europe over the next year. |
| The sum earmarked for acquisitions can go up if L&T comes across bigger companies that fit into its core engineering business. In India the company plans to bid for public sector engineering consultancy Engineers India when it is put up for sale. |
| According to the company, all special business units of L&T will continue to grow at over 20 per cent a year over the next five years. |
| ICICI BANK Last week's close (Rs) 292.20 Prev. week's close (Rs) 271.38 Week's high (Rs) 293.30 Week's low (Rs) 271.18 Last week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr) 49.18 Prev. week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr) 62.09 Futures close NT Number of up/down move 3/1 |
| ICICI Bank recorded impressive gains on the bourses last week. The stock price ascended 7.67 per cent whereas volumes were less heartening. |
| The bank witnessed buying from several institutions on the back of reports that the bank is planning to sell its bad loans to Asset Recovery Company of India before its public issue. |
| Market sources say there were block deals among institutional investors on Thursday, portraying buying interest. While the stock is getting propped up, analysts are of the view that selling of bad loans will help the bank gain value by cleaning up its balance sheet before its public issue. |
| RELIANCE ENERGY Last week's close (Rs) 801.77 Prev. week's close (Rs) 742.65 Week's high (Rs) 817.70 Week's low (Rs) 728.00 Last week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr) 126.22 Prev. week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr) 112.01 Futures close NT Number of up/down move 3/1 |
| Reliance Energy's (the erstwhile BSES) share price jumped 8.14 per cent amidst heavy volatility. The stock also touched its all-time high of Rs 817 amid buying interest from several counters, especially from institutional buyers. |
| The stock was in the limelight after the company announced that it would raise $178 million through FCCBs issued at a 30 per cent premium to the closing price of Rs 774.55 on March 1, 2004. |
| The stock price has risen close to 70 per cent in the last one month. The stock has also witnessed acclivity in the past rally, beating its index counter-parts coupled with a positive story in the power sector. |
| BHARTI TELE-VENTURES Last week's close (Rs) 154.18 Prev. week's close (Rs) 142.63 Week's high (Rs) 167.35 Week's low (Rs) 143.60 Last week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr) 133.20 Prev. week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr) 54.22 Futures close NT Number of up/down move 2/2 |
| Bharti Tele-Ventures witnessed an imposing run at the exchanges last week. The scrip registered a gain of 7.9 per cent in last week's trades. The stock is said to have received a big boost since it entered the Nifty index since March 1, 2004. |
| The stock hit an all-time high of Rs 167 amidst heavy buying interest from several funds. Market sources attribute the rise to the scrip's entry into the index since index-based mutual funds are still buying into the stock. Domestic funds as well as foreign institutional investors have been buying Bharti Tele-Venture's stock for the past one month. |
| GRASIM Last week's close (Rs) 1,184.30 Prev. week's close (Rs) 1,070.27 Week's high (Rs) 1,189.65 Week's low (Rs) 1,075.08 Last week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr) 54.01 Prev. week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr) 40.48 Futures close NT Number of up/down move 4/0 |
| Grasim Industries shot up at the bourses last week, riding the wave of strong cement dispatches last month. The scrip recorded an increase of 10.6 per cent. Grasim Industries cement dispatches in February rose over 16 per cent to 1.12 million tonnes compared to the year-ago period. |
| Production rose 18.1 per cent to 1.12 million tonnes. Domestic cement manufacturers are expecting to raise cement prices by Rs 5 and Rs 10 per 50 kg bag in Mumbai and Gujarat respectively. Analysts are of the opinion that the hike may also occur in southern markets. |
| INFOSYS Last week's close (Rs) 5,245.13 Prev. week's close (Rs) 5,067.17 Week's high (Rs) 5,373.80 Week's low (Rs) 5,094.00 Last week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr) 435.03 Prev. week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr) 404.96 Futures close NT Number of up/down move 2/2 |
| Infosys was a tad depressed at the bourses amid selling pressure that was prevalent in tech counters. The scrip dipped 3.34 per cent over its previous weekly close. The company was in the limelight recently for handing out generous ESOPs to its employees. |
| The board of the company recently allotted 7587 equity shares of par value of Rs 5 to the optionees as detailed in the resolution, pursuant to the exercise of the options granted to the employees under the company's 1999 option plan. |
| The company also recently announced that Mauritius Post and Co-operative Bank (MPCB) has signed up for Finacle, its universal banking solution. |
| HLL Last week's close (Rs) 158.40 Prev. week's close (Rs) 174.00 Week's high (Rs) 174.90 Week's low (Rs) 156.95 Last week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr) 96.08 Prev. week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr) 64.81 Futures close NT Number of up/down move 1/3 |
| HLL was among the prominent losers last week after its rival P&G cut the rates of its detergent brand by as much as 50 per cent. HLL's shares slipped over 9 per cent over its previous weekly close. |
| P&G had slashed the prices of Ariel and Tide detergent bags by up to 20 to 50 per cent in a move to ramp up volumes. HLL, in turn, slashed the prices of its detergent brands, Surf Excel and Surf Excel Blue. |
| The price of Surf Excel were being reduced from Rs 135 to Rs 99 to match P&G's Ariel while that of Surf Excel Blue was dropped from Rs 73 to around Rs 42 to take on Tide. |
| Presently HLL has a 40 per cent market share of the detergent market while P&G's share is around 5 per cent. Analysts say the price cut would do more to erode HLL's already fragile margins than give P&G any significant increase in market share. |
| MARUTI UDYOG Last week's close (Rs) 529.40 Prev. week's close (Rs) 500.38 Week's high (Rs) 534.50 Week's low (Rs) 501.08 Last week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr) 508.54 Prev. week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr) 720.14 Futures close NT Number of up/down move 3/1 |
| Maruti was in top gear at the bourses last week after reporting buoyant sales numbers for February. Shares of the company rose by almost 6 per cent as a result over its previous weekly close. |
| Dealers say leading car makers usually have reported unusually high sales in February, setting the stage for an over 25 per cent volume growth for the financial year ending March 31, 2003. |
| Maruti, the dominant player in the small car market, reported sales of 42,263 units in the month, which is 61.8 per cent higher than the 26,113 units sold in the year ago month. |
| Maruti's cumulative sales improved 33 per cent to 4,19,422 units while domestic sales increased 30 per cent to 3,76,529 units. Exports grew 53 per cent to 42,893 units. |
| STOCK OF THE WEEK |
| DR REDDY'S LABS Last week's close (Rs) 1,021.38 Prev. week's close (Rs) 1,240.45 Week's high (Rs) 1,147.60 Week's low (Rs) 995.05 Last week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr) 95.44 Prev. week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr) 34.57 Futures close NT Number of up/down move 2/2 |
| Dr Reddy's Labs was hammered by 18 per cent last week before closing at Rs 1021.38. The downsides followed after the US Federal court barred Dr Reddy's from launching the generic version of Pfizer's $2 billion anti-hypertensive drug. |
| This was a setback to Dr Reddy's in its two-year legal battle with Pfizer. With the decision, the US Court of Appeals has overturned a lower court's ruling that Pfizer's patent on Norvasc did not extend to cover AmVaz from Dr Reddy's. |
| The company could have spent upwards of $10 million in legal costs defending AmVaz, which is likely to be a costly legal battle for the company. Pfizer's Norvasc is the world's best-selling hypertension and angina drug. The company holds patent rights for the drug right up to 2007. |
| RECAP: VSNL The stock continued its upward journey closing at Rs 194.10, a gain of 2.97 per cent for the week. |
| STOCK TO WATCH |
| ONGC Last week's close (Rs) 801.63 Prev. week's close (Rs) 719.00 Week's high (Rs) 804.83 Week's low (Rs) 723.90 Last week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr) 234.83 Prev. week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr) 139.83 Futures close NT Number of up/down move 3/1 |
| ONGC is likely to be in focus after the scrip gained more than 11 per cent last week to close at Rs 801.63. The week marked the opening of company's public issue of 14.26 crore shares, making it India's biggest float to date. |
| The issue was oversubscribed within a short time of opening on Friday. ONGC stock gained 5.55 per cent higher at Rs 802.25 after the government's public offer for 10 per cent of the company's equity was oversubscribed over two times. |
| The issue is expected to raise at least $2.15 billion. The strong response to the ONGC public issue is believed to be due to strong institutional response to the issue. Currently, the government holds a 96 per cent stake in ONGC. |
| RECAP: ITC The tobacco major gained 6.10 per cent last week to close at Rs 1166.60. |
| MID-CAP MOVER |
| JUBILANT ORGANOSYS Last week's close (Rs) 1,209.30 Prev. week's close (Rs) 995.23 Week's high (Rs) 1,209.30 Week's low (Rs) 983.50 Last week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr) 3.57 Prev. week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr) 1.23 Futures close NT Number of up/down move 4/0 |
| Jubilant Organosys has been on a high since the company announced that March 15, 2004, would be the record date for its bonus issue in the ratio of 3:5. |
| Further, the company is planning to raise $55 million from the overseas markets. The Shyam and Hari-Bhartiya-promoted company will use the money for various growth initiatives. |
| According to the company, the capital will be raised in one or more tranches, either by way of private placement or global depository receipts. |
| The company has also decided to make Jubilant Biosys, a subsidiary of the company, by exercising options attached to the existing 7,78,000 convertible non-cumulative preference shares held by the company. |
| RECAP: Dredging Corp The scrip soared 23.17 per cent last week post its public issue to close at Rs 588.70. |
| SMALL-CAP MOVER |
| GUJARAT STATE FERTILIZERS Last week's close (Rs) 55.77 Prev. week's close (Rs) 47.35 Week's high (Rs) 56.38 Week's low (Rs) 46.68 Last week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr) 3.15 Prev. week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr) 1.07 Futures close NT Number of up/down move 3/1 |
| Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals (GSFC) witnessed buying on reports that major business groups were eyeing the Gujarat government's stake in the company. |
| As a result, the GSFC share moved up by over 17 per cent over its previous weekly close. The daily average turnover at the counter witnessed a whopping 200 per cent jump over its previous week's levels as a result. |
| However, the company later denied the news via an intimation to the BSE and said it has no information about the Reliance and Birla groups eyeing the Gujarat government's stake in the company. |
| RECAP: Abbot India Abbot scrip closed at Rs 478.30, up 3.44 per cent last week. |
| Week's closing is the average closing price on NSE and BSE on Friday. Weekly high is the average higher of NSE and BSE prices during the week. Week's low is the average lower of NSE and BSE prices. Turnover is based on volumes in both BSE and NSE. NT: Not traded. NA: Not applicable. (Data compiled by BS Research Bureau) |
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