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Market-movers bullish, say infotech shares will trigger smart recovery

A Staff Writer in Bombay

Leading Bombay Stock Exchange brokers said the Indian stock market, which was in turmoil last week, will gain in the next week.

They expect spectacular performances by the information technology companies which are set to announce their first half results. Analysts at the leading foreign funds have also expressed similar views.

Marketmen also attributed the weekend-eve buying interest from institutional investors to the finance minister's statement in Washington.

Yashwant Sinha had said on Wednesday: ''The UTI cannot fail and will not be allowed to fail.''

His statement was in response to the crash in share prices at the largest bourses of the country, the BSE and the National Stock Exchange during the week ended October 9, following the Unit Trust of India's reported threat of reducing its equity investment by four per cent.

However, doubts persist as to how the market will react to the fact that US President Bill Clinton had vetoed a bill empowering him to waive economic sanctions against India and Pakistan. Since this implies that the nuclear sanctions are likely to continue, market observers were guarded in their reaction. ''The bourses have been sensitive to developments related to the nuclear issue. This factor cannot be ruled out,'' said a stock analyst.

The freefall in the world stock markets during the previous week also affected market sentiment in the first half of the week. The verbal intervention by the finance minister followed by aggressive buying by the UTI and the return of foreign institutional investors towards the week-end minimised the losses the Sensex suffered earlier in the week.

Additional reportage: UNI