SKINDIA INDIAN GDR MONITOR
Volume VI No 48	Nov 26-Dec 02, 1999	03-Dec-99

IRDA Bill boosts sentiments - Skindia GDR Index up 5.76% The GDR markets commenced trading on a positive note this week but were disappointed by the Infosys's 2 for 1 stock split ratio.The markets further turned apprehensive over the possibility of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority bill again being stalled.The bill aims to open the insurance sector, a monopoly of Govt at present to private companies. The IRDA bill although was introduced in the parliament this week its getting passed depended on the support of the main opposition party. FII as well as FIs kept to the sidelines in the domestic bourse. But on Dec 01 the foreign fund buying came to the rescue of the domestic markets.As per the figures released by SEBI FIIs net bought for US $36.4 mil on Wednesday. Actually the domestic markets experienced record volumes on that day. And the news of the IRDA bill getting passed by Lok sabha brought cheers to the GDR markets and the Skindia GDR Index moved up by 4.14% on that day. It acted as a sentiment booster proving the ability of the government to carry through further reforms. Over the week the Skindia GDR Index & BSE sensex oscillated in a band of 4.96% & 2.72% and Skindia GDR Index gained 54.27 points while the BSE sensex lost 49.01 points. This week the average premiums of the 66 DRs moved down to 7.08% on Dec 02 from 7.63% on Nov 25 & the spreads between the 41 most actively traded DRs narrowed to 7.81% on Dec 02 from 7.91% on Nov 25. Over the week the 66 DRs on an average gained 1.52% and the underlying shares 2.95%. In DRs the top gainer was the telecom sector appreciating 21.53% followed by IT and aluminium sectors gaining 3.88% and 3.51% respectively. The top three losers were the textile, steel and power sector depreciating 3.77%, 2.12% and 1.67% respectively. On the other hand in the underlying shares the top gainer was the textile sector rising 7.99% followed by power and pharma sectors gaining 6.81% and 6.25% respectively. The losers were hotel losing 4.34% IT losing 1.84% and aluminium losing 1.52%. Satyam Infoway: After 'Infy', 'Sify' too seems to have caught the fancy of investors. On Oct 19 the very first day of its trading on Nasdaq, it notched a substantial premium over its listing price of US $18, and after touching a high of $47.06 settled at $35.87. Since then it has consistently been moving up and till date has appreciated 221.38%. The Skindia GDR Index. has gained 8.78% over the same period. Although 'Sify' continued to rule around $40 till Nov 9 it picked up speed thereafter and by Nov 25 was quoting at $79.56. But after it acquired India-interest portal IndiaWorld.com for $ 115m it touched its all time high of $137.25 on Nov 29. 'Sify' has been quite volatile this week. & closed at at US $ 115.06 on Dec 02.

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