FIIs focus on pharma stocks up
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) are showing interest in Indian mid-cap pharma stocks such as Ipca Labs, Lupin and MNC pharma majors such as GlaxoSmithKline and Aventis an analysis of the shareholding pattern of 20 major stocks for the quarter ending June 2003 vis-à-vis the quarter ending March 2003 shows.

Ipca Labs witnessed a hike in its FIIs stake from 0.1 per cent in March to 3.6 per cent in June while Lupin saw an eight-fold jump in FII holdings.
Other mid-cap stocks that have attracted FIIs include Aurobindo Pharma, Glenmark Pharma and Shasun Chemicals & Drugs.

Since January this year, the stock of Lupin has increased 1.7 times while Ipca Labs has gone up by about 94 per cent. Aurobindo Pharma (88.4 per cent), Shasun Chemicals (1.8 fold) and Glenmark Pharma (31 per cent) also witnessed significant appreciation in the stock prices.

FIIs have also increased their holding in big domestic pharma company such as Ranbaxy Labs and Cipla. While the stock price of the former has appreciated, the latter has declined since January.

GlaxoSmithKline Pharma and Aventis Pharma have also seen buying activity by FIIs. FII holdings in the former have gone up from 2.6 per cent in March to 3.8 per cent June, while in the latter it has increased from 6.8 to 7.2 per cent.

The strong growth prospects of the pharma industry appear to have induced FIIs to invest in these companies. India is perceived to be a good outsourcing base given the cost-effective internationally approved manufacturing facilities offered by several players.
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Sensex closes slightly lower
The BSE Sensex saw volatile trading for the second day in a row. The 30-stock index, despite opening 13.62 points higher than Monday's close, ended the day 4 points (0.1 percentage point) lower.

The index opened at 3907.03 points and closed at 3889.41, 4 points. It attained an intra-day high of 3938.91 points and a low of 3879.35 points, witnessing an intra-day swing of about 60 points.

12 stocks in the Sensex appreciated while 18 declined. In the BSE, of the 2116 stocks traded, 994 advanced, 1051 declined while 71 remain unchanged. In the BSE, barring the BANKEX index, the rest of the indices including the BSE PSU, the BSE 100, and the BSE Teck ended the day on a negative note.

In the NSE, the broad-based 50 stock S&P CNX Nifty ended the day on a positive note. The index was marginally up 1.9 points (0.15 percentage point) to 1234.75 points.

Among the index heavy weights in the BSE, Reliance Industries, Infosys Technologies and State Bank of India ended lower, even as Hindustan Lever and ITC ended the day in positive territory.

Steel stocks stood strong for the second trading day in a row. The stock price of SAIL surged 7.6 per cent to Rs 34.05 and 1.9 crore shares were traded. Jindal Vijaynagar rose 13.4 per cent to Rs 14.79 on volumes of 1.1 crore shares. Essar Steel also ended the day on a positive note. Tata Steel ended the day marginally lower.

IFCI hit the upper circuit limit as it rose 20 per cent to Rs 12. The stock was traded in huge volumes on the second day in a row. On Tuesday, IFCI registered trade volumes of 1.5 crore shares up from the previous day's volumes of 31.4 lakh shares.

Essar Shipping was again for the second day in the limelight. The stock was up 5.4 per cent to Rs 15.79, on volumes of 34.5 lakh shares. The increase in the stock price has to be seen in light of increase in the freight rates. However, GE Shipping and the state-owned Shipping Corporation ended the day on a negative note. Other PSU stocks that lost ground include refinery majors Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum.

The Government-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals, on the other hand, rose 3.8 per cent to Rs 303.75, on accompanying volumes of 8.9 lakh shares. This has to be seen in light of the huge order worth Rs 1,412 crore bagged by the company from NTPC for setting up 1000 MW thermal power project in Bihar. Bharat Earth Movers also ended the day on a positive note.

Information technology stocks saw selling pressure on Tuesday. The stocks that lost ground include Satyam Computer (3.4 per cent), VisualSoft (3.2 per cent), SSI (2.9 per cent), HCL Technologies (2.8 per cent), Polaris Software (2.7 per cent), Wipro (2.3 per cent), i-flex Solutions (2 per cent) and Geometric Software (1.8 per cent).

Among auto stocks, Premier Auto hit the upper circuit and others gainers included Ashok Leyland (3.4 per cent), Hero Honda (1.7 per cent) and TVS Motor (1.6 per cent).

The Maruti Udyog stock stood at an all-time high of Rs 212, before closing 4.05 per cent lower at Rs 210.85. Up to 33.49 lakh shares of the company were traded.

For the quarter ended June 30, 2003, MUL recorded a massive 970 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 123.1 crore, as compared to Rs 11.5 crore in the corresponding period last year.
Total income grew by 45 per cent to Rs 2,109.9 crore, from Rs 1,457.5 crore last fiscal.

Among textile stocks, Bombay Dyeing rose 6.5 per cent to Rs 70.70 on trading volumes of 1.7 lakh shares. Huge trading volumes were also witnessed by the counter of Arvind Mills, as it traded volumes of 17.6 lakh shares, even as its stock price rose by 5.7 per cent to Rs 42.80.
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NTPC deal boosts BHEL
The stock of Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) was at a 52-week high of Rs 308.20, on Tuesday before closing 3.79 per cent higher at Rs 303.75, after the company announced it had signed a Rs 1,412-crore contract from NTPC to set up a thermal power project.

Around 8.96 lakh shares of BHEL were traded on the BSE.
Besides NTPC, the company recently bagged major orders from Hindustan Zinc and Tata Power.

For the first quarter ended June 30, 2003, BHEL reported a net loss of Rs 48.90 crore, as compared to a net loss of Rs 125.20 crore in the same period last year.
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Sebi widens net to scan FII funds
Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has asked foreign institutional investors (FIIs) operating in India to disclose details of participatory notes (PNs) issued by them to overseas investors such as hedge funds on a fortnightly basis.
The market regulator has also asked foreign funds to furnish details of all outstanding instruments issued, as on August 15, 2003. The market regulator suspects that hedge funds are operating in the markets through the PN route.

Sebi has also asked for specific names and locations of the persons to whom the offshore instruments are issued. It also wants FIIs to disclose the type of investors — whether they are hedge funds, corporates or pension fund. Sebi has also called upon registered FIIs to mention the quantity and value of offshore instruments and the underlying Indian securities on the basis of which these synthetic securities are created.
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Reliance GDR down, SBI up
The Instanex Skindia DR Index (ISDI), tracking 15 actively-traded Indian depository receipts, was trading one per cent higher at 644.22 during mid-session trades in London on Tuesday.

Reliance Industries’ global depository receipt (GDR) declined by 1.08 per cent to $16.45 though State Bank of India’s GDR gained 0.22 per cent to $22.75. Ranbaxy also added 0.63 per cent to $19.32, after the US Food and Drug Administration approved the launch its new drug Dispermox.

Apart from this Indian securities listed on US markets were higher on Monday. Infy, the Infosys Tech ADR edged up by 25 cents to $51.44. Say, the Satyam Computer ADR gained 16 cents to $10.33. But Wit, the Wipro ADR, lost 13 cents to $22.77. SLT, the Silverline Technologies ADR also shed 42 cents to $1.16 after the company decided to sell off its two US subsidiaries.

HDB, the HDFC Bank ADR added 17 cents to $22.90. Telecom major, VSL, the VSNL ADR gained 19 cents to $5.51 and Sify, the Satyam Infoway ADR gained 10 cents to $5.40.

The Nasdaq composite index rose by 17.48 points to 1661.51. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 26.26 points to 9217.35, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index was up by 3 points to 980.59.
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