Markets end day at record high!

Mon, 12 May Closing

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After gaining significant ground during the post noon trading session, the Indian stock markets ended the day on a record note. The BSE-Sensex closed higher by about 557 points or 2.4%, an all time high. The NSE-Nifty too closed higher by about 155 points or 2.2% and breached the psychological mark of 7,000 points. Barring stocks from the healthcare space, all the sectoral indices closed in the green. Even the BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices ended the day on a positive note, with both the indices closing higher by about 0.7% and 0.5% respectively.

However, stock markets in other parts of Asia ended the day on a mixed note. The rupee was trading at Rs 59.84 to the dollar at the time of writing.

Most of the stocks from the Indian pharma sector have closed the day in the red. Leading the pack of losers were Indoco Remedies and Panacea biotech. Ranbaxy has declared results for the quarter ending March 2014 and for 15 months period, as the company has changed its accounting year from December end to March end. Net sales declined by 1% YoY during the quarter, due to lower sales in most of its segments. Large part of growth was impacted due to decline in API sales on back of shut down of operations in its API facility at Toansa and Dewas. Toansa plant had received import alert from the USFDA regulators some time back. However the company has voluntarily withdrew the production at Toansa and Dewas both as it wanted to take judicious steps to remove all inefficiencies in these plants. The operating margins marginally declined by 30 basis points during the quarter. The company reports a loss of Rs 736 m in for the quarter against profit of Rs 1.25 bn during March 2013 quarter. The company has incurred some write offs due to import bans at its API facility, this too impacted the bottom line. Ranbaxy closed down by 1.65%.

The last leg of voting will end today. While this may be the last leg of a month long election affair, voter enthusiasm continues to remain high. Brisk polling was recorded in all the 41 constituencies that went for elections today. The 16th Lok Sabha elections were truly cacophonic. Political parties left no stones unturned to woo electorates. The UPA led government faced severe criticism for failing to curtail price rise and corruption. And the chief opposition party was dubbed communal. Many politicians played the caste card while some indulged in personal attacks too. In short, these elections were nothing short of being euphoric. While the fate of all 543 candidates will be decided by the end of day today the results will be announced on 16th May. The citizens of India are eagerly waiting for the verdict. All are hoping that the new government will do a better job than existing one. However, only time will tell whether it would happen or not.