Sensex Opens Marginally Down; Metal & Power Stocks Top Losers

Tue, 3 Jul 09:30 am | Rini Mehta, TM Team

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Asian equities are lower today as Chinese and Hong Kong shares fall. The Shanghai Composite is off 1.1% while the Hang Seng is down 3%. The Nikkei 225 is trading flat. Wall Street ended higher on Monday after a choppy session, with gains in Apple and other technology stocks offsetting worries about an escalating trade war between Washington and its trading partners.

Back home, Indian share markets have opened marginally lower. The BSE Sensex is trading lower by 41 points while the NSE Nifty is trading lower by 25 points. The BSE Mid Cap Index and BSE Small Cap index both opened the day down by 0.2%.

All sectoral indices have opened the day in red with metal stocks and power stocks leading the losses. The rupee is trading at 68.62 to the US$.

Pharma stocks opened the day on a mixed note with Aarti Drugs & Indoco Remedies leading the losses. As per an article in a leading financial daily, Dr Reddy's Laboratories has launched Repatha, a cholesterol lowering drug, in India after getting approval from the health regulator.

The company launched Repatha in the country, the first and only PCSK9 inhibitor, approved by the Drug Controller General India (DCGI).

Repatha (evolocumab) is a patented product of Amgen global, indicated for the treatment of adult patients with primary hypercholesterolaemia or mixed dyslipidaemia.

The product would be manufactured by Amgen and distributed by the Hyderabad-based firm in the country.

Further, Repatha is used as an adjunct to diet in combination with a statin or statin with other lipid lowering therapies in patients who are unable to reach LDL-C goals with the maximum tolerated dose of a statin.

Speaking of the pharma sector, the BSE Healthcare Index has been on a roller coaster ride in the past few years. The period from 2012 to 2015 saw the index go up more than three times.

Since then it has been a painful ride downwards.

The Roller Coaster Ride of the BSE Healthcare Index

Pre-2015, pharma companies enjoyed a fairytale ride in the US market. Low labor costs, good chemistry skills, along with efficiency, ensured Indian companies could copy innovator drugs to make generic drugs at a fast pace.

The generic business had lucrative margins for all major pharma players. But the party did not last long. In the quest to supply drugs quickly, they compromised on quality at their manufacturing facilities .

No wonder, the US regulatory authority (USFDA) took strict action. Sun Pharma received a warning letter for its Halol manufacturing facility in 2015. It was like a bolt out of the blue. Since then, the downward spiral began and has continued till date.

Lupin, was also issued a warning letter for two of its plants last year.

These regulatory issues coupled with price erosion in US markets has impacted the business of major pharma players.

Dr. Reddy's share price opened the day up by 1%.

Moving on to the news from the power sector. As per an article in a leading financial daily, Tata Power's subsidiary Tata Power Renewable Energy (TPREL) has commissioned 100 megawatt (MW) capacity at the Anthapuramu solar park in Andhra Pradesh.

With this, the overall operating renewable capacity of TPREL in the country now stands at 2,215 MW.

This project is part of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) scheme for developing grid-connected solar power capacity of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) Phase II, batch-III.

A power purchase agreement has already being signed with the Solar Energy Corporation of India for 25 years.

Reportedly, Tata Power is focused to constantly proliferate the group's renewable energy portfolio and we plan to add around 1,000 MW renewable energy capacity to our portfolio every year, scaling it to 45-50% in the next five years, largely through organic growth.

Note that, the company has organically added 159 MW wind and solar capacity in the financial year 2016-17 along with the acquisition of Welspun Renewables Energy last year.

Tata Power share price opened the day up by 0.5%.

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