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Sensex Trades in Green; Metal Stocks Top Gainers
Mon, 16 Oct 01:30 pm

After opening the day in green, Share markets in India have continued the momentum and are presently trading above the dotted line. Sectoral indices are trading on a positive note, with stocks in the metals sector and stocks in the realty sector witnessing maximum buying interest.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 76 points (up 0.2%) and the NSE Nifty is trading up 26 points (up 0.3%). Meanwhile, the BSE Mid Cap index is trading up by 0.2%, while the BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.1%. The rupee is trading at 64.74 to the US$.

In news from stocks in the pharma sector. Cadila Healthcare share price is in focus today.

Cadila Healtchare announced that it that it received final approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), to market Allopurinol Tablets.

Allopurinol Tablets are usedl in the management of patients with gout and patients with cancer who are receiving therapy that causes elevations of serum and urinary uric acid levels. It will be manufactured at the group's formulations manufacturing facility at Baddi.

The company added that Allopurinol tablets achieved annual sales of Rs 9.2 billion.

At the time of writing, Cadila Healthcare share price was trading down by 0.5%.

The Indian pharmaceutical industry has come under a lot of regulatory pressure in the past few years.

The sector has faced great volatility over the years.

We had written about the current predicament of Indian pharma companies in one of the premium editions of the 5 Minute WrapUp:

  • Over the past few years, risk in the US markets has increased. The US Food and Drug Administration has become stricter on products entering US borders. Surprise inspections have increased and companies are being issued warning letters. This has impacted the business and earnings of Indian pharma players, causing major volatility for the sector.

The list of pharma sector woes is long. So, is there light at the end of the tunnel? Girish Shetty, Research Analyst thinks there is.

As per him, it doesn't make sense to paint all pharma stocks with the same brush. The leaders of the industry will certainly survive this phase. There are interesting, niche pharma stocks that are worth your attention.

Facing pricing pressures in the domestic and export markets, currency fluctuations, as well as manufacturing issues related to their plant, there is a transformation happening in the overall sector as to how business is done and will be done in the future.

Moving on to news about the economy. According to data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), retail inflation as measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) eased to 2.6% in September, as compared to sharp rise of 3.2% in August 2017.

Wholesale inflation rate, measured by the wholesale price index (WPI), is a marker for price movements in bulk buys for traders and broadly mirrors trends in shop-end prices.

The index portrays new series of WPI data released by the government earlier this fiscal, with 2011-12 as the base year, replacing existing the base year of 2004-05.

Food articles turned out to be major drivers as the data showed that prices of food articles tapered by 2% in September, as against 5.8% on a yearly basis. Vegetable inflation stood at 15.5%, as compared to an astronomical 44.9% in August.

Fuel and power segment, too cooled slightly to 9%, from 9.9% in August.

WPI Eases in September

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its monetary policy review meeting in August, announced a cut to its policy rate by a quarter of a percentage point.

The decision to cut rates is in line with the RBI's neutral monetary policy stance, tracking the rate of inflation.

The RBI's monetary statement in June had projected quarterly average inflation in the range of 2-3.5% in the first half of fiscal 2018, and 3.5-4.5% in the second half. Now it expects inflation to be about 4% by the year end. As long as inflation follows this track, the possibilities of rate cuts during this fiscal year remain slim.

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