Adrs, Tech Scrips Caught In Global Stock Meltdown

The Bombay Stock Exchange today reeled under the global meltdown in technology stocks, following the Nasdaq composite index slipping to a five-year low on Wednesday.

On the BSE, technology stocks slipped after a local brokerage house in its research report accused Rolta of accounting irregularities.

The Rolta India stock crashed 18.71 per cent to Rs 119.50 on huge volumes. Infotech majors like Satyam Computer (down 2.51 per cent to Rs 242.45), HCL Technologies (down 2.35 per cent to Rs 224.50) and Infosys Technologies (down 0.85 per cent to Rs 3,301.65) also slipped on sustained selling pressure.

The BSE sensex lost 41.80 points to settle at 3,290.56, as the Nasdaq composite index crashed to a five-year low on Wednesday, slipping 35.11 points to 1,346.01. This is Nasdaq's lowest close since May 19, 1997.

Most Indian shares listed in the US also dipped on Wednesday. Infy, the Infosys Tech ADR (down 11 cents to $54.95), couldn't be saved by the decent results of the software company back home. On the Nasdaq, Sify, the Satyam Infoway ADR, ended 1 cent lower at 40 cents. The Rediff.com ADR remained unchanged at 40 cents.

On the New York Stock Exchange, the losers were the ICICI Bank ADR (down 24 cents to $6.76); the VSNL ADR (down 10 cents to 6.10); the Wipro ADR (down 49 cents to $27.93); the Dr Reddy's Labs ADR (down 32 cents to $20.11); the Satyam Computer ADR (down 10 cents to $11.31) and HDB, the HDFC Bank ADR (down 15 cents to 13.05). However, the Silverline Tech ADR (up 5 cents to $1.58) and the MTNL ADR (up 2 cents to $5.82) bucked the weak trend.