• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Krishnan Thiagarajan

SPURRED by a smart rally of the Dow and Nasdaq in the US and the expectation of steady FII fund flows in the first quarter of 2002, the BSE Sensex appreciated by nearly 191 points (or 6 per cent) during the week to close at 3375.74 points.

Strangely after reeling under pressure for two consecutive weeks, the BSE Sensex opened the year 2002 on a cheerful note. Between Wednesday and Friday, the Sensex ended in the positive territory for three successive trading days. At the same time, a mood of cautious optimism continued to prevail as the Indo Pak border tensions have not been defused completely.

Sectoral gainers: This week was dominated by three key sectoral gainers — software services, cement and automobiles. Buoyed by the positive sentiment at Nasdaq, the Indian frontline and medium sized companies took the cue and appreciated sharply during the week. Among the frontline stocks, Satyam Computers was the biggest gainer during the week appreciating by 22.6 per cent. The other frontline stocks such as Infosys Technologies and HCL Technologies also figured among the big gainers, marching up by 11 per cent and 12.36 per cent respectively. The gainers were populated with second rung stocks such as Silverline Technologies, Mastek, Aptech, Polaris Software, Mascon Global, DSQ Software, Rolta India and Aftek Infosys.

Supported by strong shipments in the month of December, some of the cement stocks which ended in the positive territory were ACC and Gujarat Ambuja Cement. The year-on-year rise in shipments for December in both ACC and Gujarat Ambuja were 33 per cent and 37 per cent respectively. Moreover, the uptrend in prices at Mumbai also helped improve the sentiment in cement stocks. Among the other major gainers during the week were L & T, Grasim Industries, Century Textiles and India Cements.

The two wheeler segment of automobiles revved up on the back of strong December sales. Bolstered by strong motorcycle sales in the month of December, Hero Honda and TVS Suzuki were among the list of major gainers during the week.

Besides this, the media stocks were also in the limelight, with stocks such as Zee Telefilms and Balaji Telefilms appreciating in value. At the same time, second rung stocks such as Mukta Arts, Sri Adhikari Bros, ETC Networks also attracted heightened market attention.

Board Meetings: The earnings season for the September - December quarter is slated to commence next week. Some of the key results expected during the week are Infosys Technologies, Sonata Software, Aztec Software, HDFC and UTI Bank.

International Markets: Both the Dow Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite Index in the US ended the week at record levels, marching up by 1.2 per cent and 3.6 per cent respectively. While the Dow touched the highest levels since late August, the Nasdaq ended the week at a five month peak.

If the consumer confidence index triggered the indices last week, they were bolstered by bullish data from the housing and manufacturing data and a slowdown in job retrenchments in December. This also acted as a stimulant for markets across the globe, including India.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section
Forbes Gokak: Accept the higher priced options on last date

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line