The establishment of a BJP-led government at the centre, visualised as being stable by the market, coupled with falling interest rates and positive comments by the finance minister to encourage foreign direct investment in non-priority areas also, helped the international and domestic markets cross important resistant levels.

The week ended April 9 saw the Skindia GDR Index gain 5 per cent moving from 951.30 to 999.93. The top gainers were Videocon International which saw a substantial gain of 190 per cent rising from $1 to $2.90. The other gainers were Raymond Woollen, which rose by 41.25 per cent from $4 to $5.65, and Indo Gulf, which jumped by 33.33 per cent from $0.90 to $1.20.

The top losers were JCT Ltd with a loss of 20 per cent, down from $1.25 to $1.00, Indian Aluminium with a loss of 10 per cent from $3.00 to $2.70 and Mahindra andMahindra, which saw a loss of 6.29 per cent from $8.75 to $8.20.

The Skindia GDR Index P/E rose by a marginal 3.15 per cent to 21.94 per cent from 21.27 per cent last week while the Skindia GDR Index Premium also gained a marginal 3.43 per cent to 21.03 per cent from 20.34 per cent.

During the week the 65 GDRs gained 7.07 per cent as compared to 11 per cent in the underlying shares. Dr Reddys GDR touched its all time high of $14.50 and SPIC touched its 52-week high of $5.10 on April 8. Videocon International and Raymond are currently at their 52-week high of $2.90 and $5.65, respectively.

The other stocks that were in the limelight were the power sector stocks. This was triggered by a stable rupee and a fall in the international petroleum prices. In the first quarter of 1998, the GDRs from the power sector gained 0.36 per cent on an average with compounded annualised return of 21.77 per cent. As against this the Skindia GDR Index gained 0.04 per cent with an annualised return of 1.34 per cent.

GDRs ofBSES rose 4.29 per cent to $18.25, CESC 33.33 per cent to $1.00 and Tata Electric 21.43 per cent to $255. In the local market also a similar trend was witnessed with an average rise of 0.33 per cent with a compounded annualised return of 21.30 per cent as against an average gain of 0.10 per cent on the BSE Sensex.