SKINDIA INDIAN GDR MONITOR
Volume VI No 28	Jul 09-Jul 15, 1999	16-Jul-99

Bourses climb high on economic revival India in the recent past been a cautious market for the Foreign Investors as more often than not fingers have been burnt. However, the reaction on the whole by the foreign investors has been positive towards India. The GDR and the domestic markets have seen a surge from July 10th. onwards pushing the Skindia GDR Index up by 113.04 points and the BSE Sensex up by 353.51 points. Reason for the sudden rise was the end of the Kashmir conflict which kept markets from rallying in the past few days. This was further strengthened upon by the strong economy, leaner corporate structure, inflation at a 20 - year low, an easy interest rate regime, good monsoons and positive inflows from foreign funds. During the week the turnover of the shares moved to Rs. 6706.50 cr from Rs 5418.51cr an increase of 23.77%. Since the momentum was very strong on both the bourses, the Skindia GDR Index touched 52 week high of 988.13, the BSE Sensex made a new all time peak 4810.33 on July 15, 1999. Due to increased activity the average spreads of the 40 most actively traded DRs narrowed to 5.51% on July 15 from 5.70% on July 08 while, the average premiums moved down to 7.15% on July 15 from 7.49% on July 08. In this week 16 companies touched 52 week high. Out of these the important ones are ICICI $12.82, Indian Alum $2.5, Indian Hotels $10.50, L & T at $23.00, M&M $11.72, SBI $17.25 and Telco $9.25. During the week the 63 depository receipts on an average gained 9.23% and the shares 9.55%. In the industry wise break up the GDRs from IT sector were the top gainer appreciating 25.57% followed by aluminium and hotel sector each gaining 20.25% and 17.03% respectively. In the underlying shares the top gainer was the steel sector appreciating 36.05% followed by Cement and IT sector each gaining 19.18% and 16.89% respectively. There were no losers at all in both the industries. Cement Industry - on concrete grounds Cement industry has been doing well in the calendar year 1999. In the first half of the year the GDRs of this industry on an average moved up 25.45%. If we add the value of L&T, the largest producer of cement in India, the average rises to 50.63%. (L&T being a diversified company was not included in the cement industry). Although the performance in the first quarter was better than the second. In Q1 the GDRs appreciated 12.84% on an average as compared to 11.56% in the second. In underlying shares the cement industry recorded a growth rate of 26.93%. With the addition of L&T the value goes up to 43.79%. In the first quarter growth was 17.01% while in the second it was 8.82%.

DISCLAIMER : Factual material is obtained from sources believed to be reliable and SkindiaFinance is not responsible for any errors and omissions contained herein. Any recommendation contained in this report may not be suitable for all issuers.