SKINDIA INDIAN GDR MONITOR
Volume VI No 46	Nov 12-Nov 18, 1999	19-Nov-99

Cautious Markets Subsequent to diwali festivity the mood of the markets changed from over optimistic to slightly cautious & for most of this week a lackluster sentiment prevailed. In the absence of any news driven factor the FIIs were not aggressive buyers and local funds too were less active. The dull sentiment was further aggravated on Wednesday by oil ministers statement that in view of the hardening global oil prices, the government may review gas oil prices later this month. But the strong performance of Infosys in Nasdaq with its ADR touching a new high of US $208.87 later the same day, brought cheers to the domestic bourse on Thursday. Infosys ADR continued to surge forward & again made a new high of US $218 on Thursday. Over the week the Skindia GDR Index & BSE sensex oscillated in a narrow band of 1.51% & 2.16% and Skindia GDR Index gained 9.61 points while BSE sensex lost 33.20 points. This week the average premiums of the 66 DRs moved up to 10.08% on Nov.18 from 9.46% on Nov 11 & the spreads between the 41 most actively traded DRs widened to 8.36% on Nov 18 from 8.03% on Nov 11. Over the week the 66 DRs on an average lost 1.41% & the underlying shares 1.76%. In DRs the the top gainer was the telecom sector rising 11.93% followed by IT & fertiliser sectors gaining 0.84% & 0.40% respectively. The top three losers were steel auto & pharma sectors depreciating 9.03%.,7.08% & 3.50% respectively. On the other hand in the underlying shares the top gainer was the cable sector gaining 14.02% followed by telecom & power sectors gaining 11.41% & 2.37% respectively. The losers were aluminium losing 6.04% hotel losing 5.42% and textile losing 4.60%. VSNL plans to list GDRs in US: With a view to ease trading of its GDRs in the US, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited is examining the possibility of a C type listing of its GDRs on either the Nasdaq or New York Stock Exchange within the next couple of months. To start with, VSNL will have to recast its accounts to meet US's generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), apart from meeting the Securities and Exchange Commission's disclosure and transparency guidelines. Currently VSNL GDRs are listed on the London Stock Exchange and the company's shares are traded on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Each GDR represents one half of an equity share. After the US listing in place VSNL would probably be the only company from India or possibly Asia, to have such a multiple listing. VSNL had two GDR offers of 37.8m in March 97 & 17.4m in Feb 99 and a domestic equity float of 1m recently in Sep 99. The two GDR offerings together constitute a stake of 45.6 per cent of VSNL equity while the government's holding is slightly over 53 per cent following the domestic equity float.

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.