Indian Stocks Week-in-Review: Banks Lead U.S.-Traded ADRs Higher

It was a good overall week for Indian ADRs as only Sify (Nasdaq: SIFY) closed the week in the red. Indian Banks led the way this week with ICICI Bank (NYSE: IBN) and HDFC Bank (NYSE: HDB) gaining 9.46% and 8.37% respectively.

SENSEX started the week with a huge 368 points or 3.09% drop but recovered by the end of week to go past the 12,000 points. The two India focused CEF’s India Fund (NYSE: IFN) and Morgan Stanley India Fund (NYSE: IIF) had a strong week.

Though both HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank lost out on acquiring United Western Bank (UWB), they did manage to post impressive gains. The beleaguered bank finally merged with Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI).

Infosys Technologies (Nasdaq: INFY) also had a nice week as Cowen & Co. reiterated an “outperform” rating on the stock, adding that the stock should outperform the market by 20% or more over the next year. The company also announced an alliance with Schlumberger to provide comprehensive information management solutions that integrate upstream technical and business processes for oil and gas companies. Also, it seems like Infosys is all set to join the NASDAQ-100 when it comes for review in December.

Wipro (NYSE: WIT) and Satyam (NYSE: SAY) posted modest gains for the week with Wipro’s chairman Azim Premji giving an interview to New York Times.

Patni (NYSE: PTI) continues its strong run with another 2.70% gain for the week. Patni seems to have bounced back from its long downtrend.

WNS Holdings (NYSE: WNS) keeps going strong since its IPO. Citigroup, Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley have positive ratings on this stock.

Dr. Reddy’s Lab (NYSE: RDY) also had a nice week. In an interview with Reuters, the company’s CEO, G.V. Prasad, said that they are looking to expand in Europe and eyeing acquisitions in Italy and Spain with France as their next target.

Indian Conglomerate Tata Sons reported that they have increased their stake in Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (NYSE: VSL) by 2% to a total of 49%.

Meanwhile, Tata Motors (NYSE: TTM) and Rediff (Nasdaq: REDF) managed decent gains with no relevant news. Sify Ltd. (Nasdaq: SIFY) managed to close the week down.

Disclosure: The author is long SIFY and IFN

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