S&P rating takes toll on GDRs

While the impact of the change in the outlook of the six country-specific counters by Standard & Poor’s was negligible on the local bourses, the GDRs of Reliance, ICICI, L&T and Telco were battered by over five per cent on an average on overseas stock exchanges. IDBI and Bank of Baroda are not listed on the GDR bourses.

The Reliance GDR fell by 5.14 per cent to trade at $8.30, while L&T’s GDR was hammered down to 3.22 per cent to quote at $12.63.

Indian Aluminium’s GDR, however, bucked the trend. The GDR touched a high of $4, registering a sharp gain of 24 per cent. Even the underlying share moved up on the local bourses. The stock was locked at the upper limit of the price band on the BSEand closed at Rs 166.40.

However, the GDR of Sterlite failed to evoke a similar response, with no trades reported. The scrip moved up by 7 per cent on the local bourses to trade at Rs 373.25.

Meanwhile, the absence of institutional activity saw the 30-share BSE Sensitive Index drift below the 3,900 mark to close at 3,875.06 points, a loss of 33.05 points over the previous close.

Sources said FIIs were active in scrips like Gujarat Ambuja Cements and ICI. Ranbaxy recorded a huge online transaction of one lakh shares at the market price of Rs 625. Its GDR recorded a value erosion of 3.53 per cent to close at $20.50.

The ITC counter was hammered to a low of Rs 771 on the NSE, while it touched an intra-day low of Rs 780 on the BSE.

According to market sources, the provisioning of Rs 110 crore from the reserves and not from profits indicates weakening fundamentals of the company, which led to a selling spree at the counter.

The stock closed at Rs 783, down 1.2 per cent, while its volumes fell to a lowof 23.27 lakh shares. ITC recorded a loss of over 5 per cent at the GDR markets to trade at $22.40.