Indian share markets trade strong

Mon, 12 May 01:30 pm

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The Indian markets continued to trade at stratospheric levels during the previous two hours of trading session on account of continuous buying activity among the index heavy weights. Except the healthcare sector, all sectoral stocks are trading positive. Buying interest is heavy among the energy and banking sector stocks.

The BSE Sensex is trading up 426 points and the NSE-Nifty is trading up 116 points. The BSE Mid Cap index is trading up 0.7% and the BSE Small Cap index is trading up 0.5% today. The rupee is trading at 59.72 to the US dollar.

Majority of the domestic pharma stocks are trading in the red with Panacea Biotech and Indoco Remedies being the biggest losers. As per a leading financial daily, Cipla has invested $21 m in US-based Chase Pharmaceuticals through its wholly owned subsidiary in UK. Chase Pharmaceuticals is a drug development company focusing on novel treatments for Alzheimer's disease. The investment is to support phase 2a and phase 2b of clinicla trials for Chase's lead drug CPC 201. Additionally, Cipla will also collaborate with Chase for the development of the drug which will be sold by the former as low cost medicine in India and South Africa. This investment is consistent with the company's philosphy of providing affordable medicines and building innovative business streams. Reportedly, five million people in India are suffering from dementia with a majority of them afflicted with Alzheimer's disease. By 2018, these figures are likely to double. Cipla stock is currently trading down 1.7%.

Large capitalization software stocks are trading mixed today. While Infosys and Tech Mahindra are trading higher, Wipro and HCL Infosystems are trading on a weak note. As per a leading business daily, Tech Mahindra plans to consider an acquisition in order to lower its dependence on the telecommunications business. In fact, it may opt for businesses that are focussed on the niche segment. Around 47% of Tech Mahindra's revenues are from the telecom sector.It plans to lower the same and increase its exposure in other sectors like healthcare and retail. A Gartner, the independent research institution on IT sector, expects software spending from telecommunication players to grow by 1.3% this year as compared to spending growth of 4.6% in other industries. So the move is to enable Tech Mahindra of expand its offering and caters to the high growth business verticals and simultaneously lower its concentration to the single segment.