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K.S. Badri Narayanan

Sentiment turned weak for the US markets last Friday after reports that the University of Michigan index of consumer confidence had dropped; confidence is viewed as a precursor to consumer spending, which drives two-third of the US economy.

However, major indices ended the week in positive territory. For the week, the S&P 500 rose less than 0.1 per cent; the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.6 per cent while the Nasdaq Composite Index slipped marginally by less than 0.1 per cent.

Back home, the domestic markets finished the week on a firm note on monsoon hopes and positive foreign institutional investments. The 30-share Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex rose 50.90 points at 3354.14 and the National Stock Exchange's S&P CNX Nifty) shot up by around 10 points to settle at 1056.2.

Moving on to ADRs, it was a mixed week at the Indian counters. Counters such as Dr. Reddy's Laboratories and HDFC Bank hit their 52-week highs.

Dr. Reddy's said it has filed an application with the US Food and Drug Administration to sell a second new specialty drug in the US. The company will also present six abstracts, representing its discovery research findings, at the 63rd Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association, which is currently under way (June 13-17) at New Orleans, US.

The abstracts will feature the progress of the discovery programme, which will include demonstration of preclinical efficacy and safety of the company's pipeline compounds in development for treatment of type 2 diabetes, discovery of potential new diagnostic markers for onset of type 2 diabetes and mechanisms of accelerated cardiovascular disease in diabetics. This is the third successive year that Dr. Reddy's is presenting its research findings at the ADA. On hopes of some positive outcome from the meeting, the company's ADR hit a new 52-week high at $21.79; it, however, ended the week at $21.67 as against the previous week close of $21.15. The underlying stock closed at Rs 960.80 (Rs 971.30).

HDFC Bank closed at its 52-week high level of $18.60 ($18.36); the underlying equity, however, slipped marginally to Rs 250.90 (Rs 259.15), which pushed up the ADR's premium to 15.49 per cent from last weekend premium of 10.75 per cent.

Another counter that ended the week on a positive note was Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. Its ADR ended at $4.60 ($4.41); reports that the company has received approval from the Sri Lankan Government to set up a subsidiary that will offer overseas phone services from the island nation seemed to have perked up interest in the counter. The underlying stock also ended the week on a firm note at Rs 105 (Rs 101.35).

Infotech counters were mixed. Infosys Technologies closed the week firmly at $51.08 ($50.23); Satyam was flat at $8.77 ($8.78) while Wipro finished weak at $20.05 ($21).

Internet counters Sify and Rediff.com that saw a rally until recently, maintained the downtrend to end the week in negative territory.

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