Indian ADRs add $9 bn in a week, banks shine

Indian stocks trading on American bourses added over $9 billion to their combined market capitalisation last week, with private sector lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank accounting for more than half the gains.

For the week ended November 5, the 15 Indian entities listed as American Depository Receipts (ADRs) on the American stock exchanges together added $9.34 billion to their market capitalisation (m-cap), with banking firms cornering $4.98 billion out of the total gains.

ICICI Bank's valuation jumped by $2.86 billion to $33.04 billion, while the m-cap of HDFC Bank increased by $2.12 billion to $28.62 billion.

ADRs are bought and sold on American bourses just like stocks and are issued by a bank or a brokerage firm.

Among the Indian entities listed on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq together, only four of them -- including BPO company Genpact and telecom firm Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) -- witnessed an erosion in their respective market valuation.

Apart from banking entities, IT major Wipro saw its valuation swell by $1.88 billion to $36.86 billion.

Tata Motors' m-cap rose by $946 million to $16.99 billion, while IT bellwether Infosys Technologies' market capitalisation grew by $867 million to $39.39 billion.

The valuations of pharma major Dr Reddy's Laboratories and copper producer Sterlite Industries also went up by $344 million and $277 million, respectively.

Meanwhile, Genpact emerged as the major loser during the week, witnessing the erosion of its m-cap by $117 million, while MTNL registered a decline of $50 million in its valuation.

In addition, the m-cap of Internet firms Sify Technologies and Rediff.Com slipped by $9 million and $4 million, respectively.

Among the other gainers were outsourcing firm WNS Holdings and EXLService Holdings, telecom major Tata Communications and IT company Patni Computer Systems, whose valuations increased in the range of $15 million to $94 million.

On Friday, US markets ended in the positive terrain, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average settling up by 9.24 points at 11,444.08 and the S&P 500 higher by 4.79 points at 1,225.85. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was also up by 1.64 points at 2,578.98.