The Skindia GDR Index touched a fortnightly high of 595.84 points on November 9. While the Skindia GDR Index gained 37.38 points, the Sensex moved up by 167.06 points. The average spreads of the 37 most actively traded GDRs declined to 9.10 per cent from 10.48 per cent in the previous week while premiums of the 60 GDRs dropped to 3.23 per cent from 6.59 per cent.

According to a Skindia Finance release, in the week to November 12, the Skindia GDR Index increased by 6.79 per cent to 587.50 points, compared with its previous close of 550.12 points. The GDR Index p/e also rose by 3.34 per cent to 15.82 from 15.31 while the GDR Index premium decreased by 6.07 per cent from 16.35 per cent to 15.36 per cent.

Of the 60 GDRs, therewere 41 gainers and 13 losers while 6 remained unchanged. The top gainers for the week were ICICI ($7.25), Reliance ($6.38) and State Bank of India ($8.85) which moved up from their previous close of $5.83, $5.33 and $7.50, respectively. Losers included SIV Industries ($0.32), India Cements ($0.80) and Garden Silk ($1.15) which reported a drop from their previous close of $0.35, $0.88 and $1.25, respectively.

During the week, the 60 GDRs on an average appreciated by 5.19 per cent and the underlying shares gained by 8.44 per cent. The aluminium sector was the major gainer with a rise of 11.02 per cent followed by the auto sector which moved up by 9.49 per cent. The pharma and telecom sectors were the only losers falling by 3.06 per cent and 1.13 per cent, respectively. Among underlying shares, the top gainers were the auto and aluminium sectors which shot up by 11.58 per cent and 8.45 per cent, respectively.

According to the release, with the industrial output slowing down in the first half of the currentfiscal, the auto sector seems to have faced the brunt of it all. As a result of the slowdown in the overall economy, the credit rating of Telco and Ashok Leyland was cut by Crisil in September.Ashok Leyland had to resort to a three-day week from September 1 in an effort to cut costs. Besides two-wheelers, the sales in all other segments of the auto industry showed a decline in the first half. Mirroring the gloomy scenario, the GDRs of this sector fell by 45.28 per cent on an average during this period.

Telco recorded the highest fall of 67.18 per cent followed by Mahindra & Mahindra at 57.27 per cent, Ashok Leyland (45.41 per cent) and Bajaj Auto (11.66 per cent). The shares on an average declined by 41.32 per cent, with Telco losing 61.26 per cent, M&M 50.30 per cent, Ashok Leyland 46.17 per cent and Bajaj Auto 7.55 per cent.

In the first 12 days of the second half, the stocks have performed positively, with GDRs of the sector appreciating 13.43 per cent and shares 15.65 per cent on an average. TheSkindia GDR Index moved up by 9.60 per cent and the Sensex by 7.05 per cent during the same period.

During the same period, Telco's GDR gained 25.69 per cent to touch $3.21, Ashok Leyland 20.63 per cent to $1.90, M&M 5.44 per cent to $3.88 and Bajaj Auto 1.94 per cent to $17.08. The price appreciation in Telco has been the result of purchases made by the promoters themselves in the domestic markets.