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Sensex Remains Range bound; ONGC Continues to Slide
Thu, 3 Nov 01:30 pm

The Indian share markets continue to trade flat during the noon trading session amid uncertainty over the outcome of the US presidential elections. Sectoral indices are trading mixed with metal & auto stocks witnessing majority of the buying activity. Meanwhile, losses are largely seen in IT sector, oil & gas sector.

The BSE Sensex is trading higher by 39 points (up 0.1%) while the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 16 points (up 0.2%). The BSE Mid Cap index is trading flat while BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.3%. Gold prices, per 10 grams, are trading at Rs 30,495 levels. Silver price, per kilogram is trading at Rs 43,651 levels. Crude oil is trading at Rs 3,050 per barrel. The rupee is trading at 66.67 to the US$.

Pharma stocks are trading on a mixed note with Strides Shasun Ltd and Elder Pharma leading the gains.

Share price of Strides Shasun surged 8.4% in the afternoon session after it was reported that the company has settled regulatory claims with Mylan NV regarding the acquisition of former's injectables unit Agila Specialties. Strides will reportedly get about US$30 million from regulatory escrow after it makes the payment to Mylan.

In another development, as per an article in The Economic Times, Aurobindo Pharma has shown interest in acquiring Portuguese pharma company Generis Farmaceutica for about US$200 million.

Reportedly, Generis has presence across anti-infective, respiratory, anti-diabetes and dermatology drugs, besides a contract manufacturing and analytical services arm. It generated sales of around US$60 million last year.

According to the report, Aurobindo is keen to consolidate its presence among the top ten players in markets present in Europe. Apparently, Aurobindo has been in acquisitive mode. It recently also was in the race Teva's UK product portfolio but was outbid by Intas Pharmaceuticals last month.

Prior to that, around 80 of Teva's products in the US were sold to drug makers like Sagent, Cipla, Zydus Cadila, Aurobindo and Perrigo. Recently, Dr Reddy's also acquired eight abbreviated new drug applications Teva. Bhavita Nagrani, our pharma sector analyst has shared quick bits on the Teva deal in one of our premium editions of The 5 Minute Wrap Up (Subscription Required).

Further, Aurobindo has got US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approval for ipratropium bromide. It is used to treat the symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma.

Meanwhile, it was reported that, Ajanta Pharma has launched its Amlodipine + Olmesartan Medoxomil tablets in the US market after receiving an approval from the USFDA. It is a bioequivalent generic version of Azor tablets, used for lowering blood pressure.

Overall, Ajanta has 29 Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDAs). Out of which which it has 16 final ANDA approvals. While, there are 2 tentative approvals and 11 ANDAs under review with the USFDA.

Shares of Aurobindo Pharma & Ajanta Pharma were down by 0.7% & 0.6% respectively while writing.

Moving on the news from . According to a leading financial daily, State Bank of India (SBI) has slashed its home loan rates to 9.1%. The fresh cut in home loan rate is supposed to be the lowest in six years.

As part of the festival scheme offer, banks including ICICI has also unveiled a host of benefits such as waiver of processing fee and overdraft facility. SBI Home Loans are cheapest and provide an excellent opportunity for both new home buyers as well as those who wish to switch over their home loan to SBI to save on EMI, the bank stated. While, the ICICI's offer (Subscription Required) will provide a dual advantage of a term loan as well as an overdraft facility.

Further, the revised rates will be effective from 1 November. The move comes after SBI announced a 0.15% cut in its marginal cost of funds based lending rates (MCLR) across tenors last week. Under the revised rates, the one-year MCLR which determined a slew of products including home loans for SBI stands at 8.9%. It signals a further dip in borrowing costs ahead of the busy season, the reports noted.

Notably, the announcements come after a discontent shown by the regulator for not passing on the benefits of cuts to borrowers. They also come ahead of the crucial busy season in the second half of the fiscal which sees a spurt in loan demand. This move could prompt other banks to follow suit in order to protect their market share, the reports noted.

Shares of SBI were trading down by 1.1% at the time of writing.

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