HDFC Bank hits 52-week high
Mumbai: The US markets ended last week on a firm note amidst reports that the US manufacturers and service companies were growing. On the back of extreme optimism, the S&P 500 climbed 2.5 per cent to 987.76 and the tech-focussed Nasdaq by two per cent to 1627.42. According to Bloomberg, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 2.4 per cent to 9062.79, and closed above 9000 on Wednesday for the first time since August 22. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index has jumped 23 per cent from this year's low, set on March 11. With strong FII inflows, the domestic bourses also surged; the BSE's Sensex closed at a 15-week high of 3,303.24 points and the NSE 's S&P CNX Nifty surged about 40 points to 1046.40 points. It was one of the best weeks for the Indian ADRs, as none of the counters ended in the negative zone except Rediff.com. Following the positive economic statistics from US, the Indian tech counters witnessed a strong rally; an US service industries report said that growth in the world's largest economy may accelerate in coming months. Infosys Technologies ended the week above the crucial $50-mark at $50.23 as against the previous week close of $44.20. Wipro, which had hit a 52-week low last week, ended higher at $21 ($19.54). In addition to positive US data, reports that Wipro along with HCL Technologies won an order worth about $40 million from a US-based retailer appeared to have aided Wipro. However, it was banking counter HDFC Bank that stole the limelight. It reached its new peak of $18.48 in 52 weeks; the counter closed the week at $18.36 ($17). The Chairman's announcement that the bank expects to grow 25 per cent in fiscal 2004 seemed to have sparked interest in the counter. Another counter that was close to its 52-week high was Dr Reddy's Lab. The ADR finished the week firm at $21.15 ($19.30); its 52-week high is $21.64. The company's announcement that it plans to increase its R&D spending by 50 per cent seemed to have fuelled rally in the counter.

Ramco Systems: The company is holding its board meeting on June 11 to consider issue of shares on rights basis. The stock has seen some volatile action in the past. The announcement of details of the offer could spark some interest in the stock in the current week.
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It's party time for media stocks, courtesy CAS
New Delhi: Whether the implementation of the conditional access system (CAS) spells well for the consumer or not will be known in the coming weeks, but last week was good for media stocks. Overall shares of most of the media companies saw a renewed interest with both prices and volumes picking up. Companies such as Zee Telefilms, Sri Adhikari Brothers Television (SAB TV) and ETC Networks saw a spurt in both volumes and price because of the positive impact of CAS on these broadcasters. Zee Telefilms closed the week at Rs 92.75 with over 74 lakh shares changing hands on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and 1.5 crore shares traded on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday alone. SAB TV touched Rs 81.45 with volumes of over 2 lakh on the BSE alone. "While Zee Telefilms is expected to reap the benefits of CAS through its subsidiary Siticable, which is one of the country's largest multi-system operators (MSOs), others such as SAB TV and ETC Networks are free-to-air channels," said a Mumbai-based analyst. SAB TV has already beefed up its content and is not likely to lose much viewership since it's one of the two general Hindi free-to-air entertainment channels. However, interestingly, shares of content providers such as Balaji Telefilms, Creative Eye Ltd and Mukta Arts (which is also getting into television software) have gone up, despite the possibility of broadcasters planning to rework their deals. Market watchers said that the reasons for stock prices of these companies to go up are two-fold. "One is that the market has already absorbed this negative news by bringing down the prices earlier and has now started discounting it. Two, if CAS is implemented and brings in stability, broadcasters may not bring down the rates drastically," said Nikhil Vora, vice-president of securities firm ASK Raymond James. Television 18 (TV 18), which will have majority stake in business news channel CNBC India, is also in the limelight as the market expects the channel to gain most through CAS. "TV 18 could be one of the biggest gainers after SAB TV because it is among the strongest niche channels available," said Vora.
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