SKINDIA INDIAN GDR MONITOR
Volume VI No 32	Aug 06-Aug 12, 1999	13-Aug-99

The week commenced on a steady note but on tuesday the news of downing of a Pakistani aircraft in Indian airspace in Gujrat by Indian Air Force fighters brought the GDR market tumbling down by 4.93%. Since then the market players seem to have kept to the side lines waiting for more clear signals that the incident was an isolated one and the tension won't escalate. During the week the Skindia GDR Index and the BSE sensex lost 38.62 & 57.55 points moving in a range of 5.28% & 2.10% respectively. Over the week the premiums of the 63 DRs on an average fell down to 2.07% on Aug 13 from 5.58% on Aug 05. The spreads between the bid and ask of the 40 most actively traded DRs narrowed to 6.78% on Aug 13 from 7.33% on Aug 05. During the week the 63 DRs gained 1.36% and the underlying shares 4.95%. Cement sector was the top gainer in the GDRs, appreciating 20.86% followed by aluminium and cable sector gaining 12.18% and 9.33% respectively. The top loser was the steel sector losing 10.44% followed by fertiliser and hotel sector shedding 8.38% and 2.50% respectively. On the other hand in the underlying shares the top gainer was the steel sector gaining 12.34% followed by cement and pharma sector rising 11.94% and 9.17% respectively. The only three losers were hotel, telcom and IT sector losing 1.91%, 1.34% and 0.94% respectively. ITC-a slide down ITC stock after rising continously stopped for a breather this quarter. During the first half of the calendar year 1999, ITC GDRs on an average gained 26.37% & the underlying shares 45.29%. The major rise being in the first three months of calendar 1999. Although during the quarter ending June 30, 1999 the ITC GDR & shares gained 2.59% and 15.96%, it turned negative in the first one and a half months of this quarter losing 16.13% & 13.00% respectively. During the same period the Skindia GDR Index and the BSE sensex gained 2.04% and 9.63% respectively. For ITC the slide continued this week too, and it lost 17.36% in GDR and 4.32% in the shares. For the quarter ending June 30, 1999 ITC recorded a 4% drop in its net income to Rs. 905.8 crore from Rs. 943.1 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, largely because of the stiff excise hikes of 11% and 10% in the two preceding Union Budgets and the depressed volumes in the cigarette industry. The recent ban on the sale of tobacco products on trains & railway platforms further eroded its sales.

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