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Sensex Trades on a Volatile Note; Capital Goods Stocks Top Gainers
Fri, 10 Nov 01:30 pm

After opening the day marginally lower, share markets in India witnessed volatile trading activity and are presently trading in red. Sectoral indices are trading on a mixed note, with stocks in the capital goods sector and stocks in the consumer durables sector witnessing maximum buying interest. While stocks in the auto sector are leading the losses.

The BSE Sensex is trading down by 33 points (down 0.1%) and the NSE Nifty is trading down by 13 points (down 0.1%). Meanwhile, the BSE Mid Cap index is trading up by 0.1%, while the BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.4%. The rupee is trading at 65.04 to the US$.

In news from stocks in the pharma sector. Divi's Lab share price witnessed buying interest in early trade today after the company said that the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) has closed out a warning letter issued to the company's unit at Visakhapatanam.

The company said that the US health regulator completed the inspection of the corrective action and measures initiated by the company and closed out the warning letter.

Last week, Divi's Labs had announced that the US health regulator would lift an import alert imposed on the company's Unit-II in Visakhapatnam and was moving to close out the warning letter issued to the unit.

The USFDA in March had issued import alert, and a warning letter later for the Visakhapatnam facility for non-compliance of good manufacturing practice (GMP) norms, the company had informed bourses earlier.

The company in July announced that USFDA had moved to lift import alert imposed on the unit.

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

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

USFDA sweetener for Indian Pharma


In recent times, pharma companies were bogged down by mounting pressure from US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to adhere to quality standards at their manufacturing plants. In the past three years, the USFDA raised numerous regulatory concerns resulting in import bans and suspension of new drug approvals from facilities of Indian pharma companies. But what has come as a breather is a sharp pick-up in new drug approvals in 2017. During the period January-July 2017, 129 approvals for generic drugs were made. This is 45% higher from 89 approvals made in the corresponding period last year.

As per the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, the pace of drug approvals has gained momentum after they complained to FDA about delays last year. Approvals for drugs have also picked up after USFDA concerns at some of the manufacturing units were addressed.

At the time of writing, Divi's Lab share price was trading up by 1.7%.

Moving on to news from stocks in the capital goods sector. Larsen & Toubro (L&T) share price is among the top gainers on the bourses today after the company has received an order from Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority to construct two sections of the Rs 178 billion Mumbai Trans Harbour Link project.A consortium led by L&T-IHI Corp, a joint venture between L&T and Japan's IHI Corp, will construct the Sewri side of the sea-bridge, which is the first section, while L&T alone will construct bridge portion on land towards Chirle, which is the third section of the project.

Additionally, the company's construction arm bagged orders worth RS 40 billion.

L&T said its heavy civil infrastructure business has bagged orders worth Rs 19 billion in the domestic market, while its building and factories business received an order worth Rs 8.3 billion in the international front.

Besides, the company also orders worth 7.8 billion in water & effluent treatment business, Rs 3.4 billion worth orders in power transmission & distribution business.

The company's smart world communication business also bagged Rs 1.6 billion worth orders from Raipur Smart City for implementation of intelligent traffic management services.

Consequently, the stock surged and L&T share price hit a 52-week high.

At the time of writing, L&T share price was trading up by 3.9%.

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