Indian stock markets remain lackluster

Mon, 14 Jul 11:30 am

   Previous Close   

   Pre-Open   

   09:30 am   

   01:30 pm   

   Closing   

After opening in the red Indian equity markets continue to trade below the dotted line. Sectoral indices are trading mixed with IT and FMCG stocks being among the leading losers. However stocks from Power and Realty sectors are among the leading gainers.

The BSE-Sensex is trading down 46 points. The NSE-Nifty is trading down 9 points. The BSE Mid Cap index is trading down 0.12% and the BSE Small Cap index is trading down 0.29%. The rupee is trading at 59.97 to the US dollar.

While MNC pharma stocks are trading in red today, the stocks from Indian pharma space are trading mixed today. Among the MNC pharma companies Sanofi Aventis is witnessing maximum selling pressures and in Indian pharma space Divis and Cadila are the leading losers. As per the financial daily, the national pricing policy authority (NPPA) has decided to bring diabetes and cardiac drugs under the pricing control. The sudden move has surprised the industry and various pharma companies especially the MNC pharma are expected to get impacted. Reportedly, the said decision comes after the Drug price control regulator (DPCO) as the regulator decides to bring under the pricing control and thus NPPA has fixed the prices of 108 formulation packs of 50 anti-diabetic and cardiovascular medicines. These drugs were not part of the list which had come under the pricing control in 2013. The drugs like Gliclazide, Glimepiride, Sitagliptin, Voglibose, Amlodipine, Telmisartan and Rosuvastatin, Heparin and Ramipril will become cheaper post this regulation. Among the various companies, Sanofi Aventis's portfolio is expected to get impacted the most. Sanofi was trading down by 8% at the time of writing

Apart from Bharti Airtel, most Telecom stocks are trading in the green with Reliance Communications leading the gainers. Most Telecom operators in the country have welcomed the proposal in the union budget regarding the setting up of National Rural Internet and Technology Mission. However, the budget did have a negative surprise for the sector. It has imposed a 10% import duty on telecom products that fall outside the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) 1 of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) pact. India had signed this agreement in March 1997. Under this pact, member countries had to allow duty free import of products falling under eight categories covering telecom, computers and semiconductors like mobile phones and electronic chips. Thus the new duty will increase the capex burden on the sector by Rs 10 bn. This will further aggravate the financial health of the sector.