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Sensex & Nifty Trade Near All-Time Highs; IT Stocks Lead
Tue, 11 Jul 11:30 am

After opening the trading day on a positive note, Indian share markets continue to trade firm in the morning session. Gains are largely seen in information technology stocks and automobile stocks. Meanwhile, consumer durables sector and FMCG sector trading in the red.

The BSE Sensex is trading higher by 132 points and the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 47 points. The BSE Mid Cap index is trading flat while the BSE Small Cap index is trading up 0.4%. The rupee is trading at 64.54 to the US$.

As per an article in the Livemint, June quarter earnings growth of Indian companies is likely to slow because of uncertainty surrounding the implementation of goods and services tax (GST) and the impact of a stronger home currency on exporters.

The Indian rupee has strengthened 5.16% against the dollar since January and may hurt the exports realization of Indian companies. Implementation of GST has also caused major disruption in many sectors.

As the 1 July implementation of GST approached, there were reports of liquidation of inventory by dealers and supply-chain disruptions in various sectors-developments that may hurt earnings and revenue growth of companies.

GST, one of the biggest tax reforms since independence, subsumes more than a dozen state and central levies into one tax, economically unifying 29 states for the first time.

As per the reports, the growth will be limited to consumption-based sectors namely automobiles and auto ancillaries, retail, FMCG and aviation.

Uncertainity among sellers and distributors due to Goods and Services taxes (GST) rollout in Q2 FY18 is expected to cap revenue growth.

The telecom sector is expected to regain its momentum slowly due to revenues slipping by about 10-15% owing to tariff war following the entry of Reliance Jio.

The metal sector is also expected to get back on track slowly as metal prices dipped in the month of June

Moving on to the news from stocks in pharma sector. According to an article in a leading financial daily, Lupin has entered into collaboration with the American Academy of Ophthalmology that would seek to expand and enhance continuing ophthalmic education in India.

The effort is expected to reach 3,000 ophthalmologists in the country. The collaboration will provide ophthalmologists access to several clinical education tools.

In another development, Alembic Pharmaceuticals share price is trading up over 4.6% on the back of USFDA approval for Dabigatran Etexilate capsules.

The company has received tentative approval from the United States Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) for its abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) for Dabigatran Etexilate Capsules, 150 mg.

The tentative approved ANDA is therapeutically equivalent to the reference listed drug product (RLD) PRADAXA Dabigatran Etexilate Mesylate Capsules, Eq to 150 mg base, Boehringer Ingelheim.

Notably, USFDA alerts on Indian pharma companies have increased over the past few years. Regulators used to visit the plants every two years. Now they come every eight months. Increasing inspections has led to a total of 41 import alerts in the past eight years.

This clearly signifies increased USFDA scrutiny on Indian pharma firms. If that wasn't enough, increasing pricing pressure in the generics segment has dented realizations.

Expediting Drug Approval Process to be a Positive for Industry

In this dull scenario, there appears to be some respite as the USFDA has expedited the drug approval process. Drug approvals for Indian companies have gone up 50% in the period from January to June 2017 compared to the same period last year.

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