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Auto, cable, telecom lead the uptrend in GDRs; Skindia Index up 10 pc

With the capital market starting its new near with a bang, the Indian global depository receipts and BSE Sensex moved up smartly during the fortnight ended January 7, 1999.

Skindia Finance said in a media statement that during the fortnight, the Skindia GDR Index (60 GDRs) increased by 82.42 points (10.34 per cent) to 635.73 points and BSE Sensex by 336.59 points (14.68 per cent) to 3,397 points.

The rise was on par with the expectations that foreign institutional investors will be allocating higher funds to India for the year 1999. Hence the bulls came charging in to the bourses.

As the rise in the shares was higher than the GDRs, the average premia of the 60 GDRs fell to 3.25 per cent on January 7, 1999 from 7.95 per cent on December 23, 1998. Due to the increased activity on the bourses, the average spreads of the 37 most actively traded GDRs narrowed to 8.69 per cent on January 7 from 9.37 per cent on December 23. No sector was a loser either in GDRs or shares.

The top gainer in the GDRs was auto appreciating 18.86 per cent followed by cables and telecommunications which gained 15.16 per cent and 12.45 per cent respectively. In shares, pharma was the top gainer rising 22.24 per cent followed by steel which rose by 20.71 per cent.

The top gainers for the fortnight were Arvind Mills which shot up by 35.71 per cent to $ 0.95, Ashok Leyland (29.70 per cent, $ 3.28) and Flex Industries (28.57 per cent, $ 0.45).

The top losers for the fortnight were Jain Irrigation which lost by 8.33 per cent to $ 0.28, Garden Silk (6.67 per cent, $ 1.05) and EID Parry (6.67 per cent, $ 1.88).

Out of 60 GDRs, there were 48 gainers, four losers while eight remained unchanged.

In industries, the GDRs of the cable industry were the top gainers rising by 0.22 per cent followed by pharma with 0.05 per cent and fertiliser and telecom each with 0.01 per cent. The top losers were hotels by 0.22 per cent and steel by 0.18 per cent.

In shares, cable with 0.20 per cent, pharma with 0.15 per cent and aluminium with 0.02 per cent were the top gainers, while cement, hotel and steel sectors were the major losers each falling by 0.12 per cent.

UNI

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