Barometers turn rangebound, pharma stocks advance

The headline equity indices traded in a narrow range with moderate losses in the mid-morning trade. The Nifty hovered a tad below the 16,160 mark. Pharma shares extended gains for fifth consecutive trading session.

At 11:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 271.62 points or 0.50% to 54,210.22. The Nifty 50 index declined 66.25 points or 0.41% to 16,154.35.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.04% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.55%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,811 shares rose and 1,346 shares fell. A total of 168 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Pharma index rose 1.13% to 12,590.60, extending its winning streak for the fifth session. The index gained 3.05% in five trading sessions.

Granules India (up 5.12%), Biocon (up 1.7%), Zydus Lifesciences (up 1.31%), Torrent Pharmaceuticals (up 1.05%), Lupin (up 0.99%), Alkem Laboratories (up 0.9%), Divis Laboratories (up 0.67%), Cipla (up 0.66%) and Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries (up 0.52%) advanced.

On the other hand, Natco Pharma (down 0.61%), Ipca Laboratories (down 0.1%) and Pfizer (down 0.07%) edged lower.

Dr. Reddy's Laboratories rallied 3.24% after the drug major along with its subsidiaries announced the launch of Dr. Reddy's Fesoterodine Fumarate Extended-Release Tablets, a therapeutic generic equivalent to Toviaz (fesoterodine fumarate) Extended-Release Tablets in the U.S. market following the approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA).

Stocks in Spotlight:

Dilip Buildcon gained 2.18% after the company said it was declared as the lowest bidder for 'Gandhisagar-2 Multi-Village Water Supply Scheme' in Madhya Pradesh. The tender was floated by the Madhya Pradesh Jal Nigam Maryadit, Bhopal (M.P.). The project entails engineering, procurement, construction, testing, commissioning, trial run and operation & maintenance of various components of Gandhisagar-2 multi-village scheme, districts Mandsaur and Neemuch in single package on 'turn-key job basis' including trial run and operation & maintenance of the entire water supply scheme for 10 years in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The awarded bid project cost for the project is Rs 1400 crore. The estimated completion period is 28 months.

CCL Products (India) rose 0.60%. The home-grown coffee brand has announced the launch of its plant-based meat products brand 'Continental Greenbird' in India. CCL Products (India) said that in the past few years, the popularity of plant-based meat has been gaining momentum globally as well as in India. The pandemic has propelled the growth further. Therefore, based on industry research and growth potential, Continental Coffee (CCL) has ventured into the frozen foods category with the launch of plant-based meat products with its 'Continental Greenbird' brand. The brand will enable its consumers to make choices which are sustainable to the globe without losing the taste of meat.

Global Markets:

Most Asian stocks were trading lower on Monday as investors braced for a U.S. inflation report that could force another super-sized hike in interest rates, and the start of an earnings season where profits could be under pressure.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell more than 2% after reports that China has imposed fines on heavyweights Tencent and Alibaba. China imposed fines on several companies, including tech giants Alibaba and Tencent, for not complying with anti-monopoly rules on disclosure of transactions, as per reports.

However, Tokyo stocks are trading higher on Monday after Japan's ruling bloc secured a strong win in Sunday's upper house election, held just days after the assassination of former premier Shinzo Abe.

U.S. stocks closed mixed Friday, with the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite ending higher as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 index slipped, after a stronger-than-expected June jobs report.

The U.S. saw stronger than expected job growth in June, as the economy added 372,000 jobs, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday. June's gains marked a slight deceleration from the downwardly revised 384,000 in May. April's count was revised down to 368,000. The unemployment rate was 3.6%, unchanged from May and in line with estimates.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News