Strong Finish to the Week; Sensex Breaches 34,000 Yet Again

Fri, 29 Dec Closing

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Indian share markets witnessed buying momentum in the afternoon session and finished on a strong note. At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex closed higher by 209 points and the NSE Nifty finished higher by 53 points. The S&P BSE Mid Cap finished up by 0.7% while S&P BSE Small Cap finished up by 0.6%. Gains were largely seen in power sector, auto sector and software sector.

Asian stock markets finished mixed as of the most recent closing prices. The Shanghai Composite gained 0.33% and the Hang Seng rose 0.19%. The Nikkei 225 lost 0.08%. European markets are mixed. The FTSE 100 is higher by 0.14%, while the DAX is leading the CAC 40 lower. They are down 0.13% and 0.02% respectively.

Rupee was trading at Rs 63.93 against the US$ in the afternoon session. Oil prices were trading at US$ 60.09 at the time of writing.

Gold prices inched up in today's trade to one-month high and were on track for their best year since 2010, driven higher over the past 12 months mainly by a weaker dollar and safe-haven buying prompted by global political uncertainties.

Gold, which is also on track for its best month since August, has benefited from technically-driven momentum as well as the dollar downtrend.

However, returns from gold have been anything but flattering. Mainly a hedge against market volatility, gold prices have remained at roughly the same levels since 2013.

On the contrary, share market in India has been on a constant upward trajectory during the same period. The only blip seen was in 2016, when gold prices gave healthy returns.

Gold Returns : 2013 - 2017

One more reason for the lackluster returns has been the global economy. US interest rates have been on the rise since 2014. This has swayed investors' interest towards government bonds, subsequently reducing demand for gold.

While the US Federal Reserve is also expected to raise interest rates next year, current gold valuations seem to have factored that in.

In news from pharma sector, credit rating agency, Crisil in its latest report has said that the Indian pharmaceutical industry would log in a 9% revenue growth over the next three years ending 2020.

As per the report, the sector is expected to witness better revenue growth in the near term with better cash flows on the back of robust domestic demand and rising need for complex products in the west.

The rating agency however, said that the current fiscal year would be critical for the pharma sector overall export, as it will able to grow at rate of 1% only.

It also pointed that over half of the exports are to the regulated markets in the West but those are set to de-grow by 5% this fiscal, after growing 3% last fiscal, due to greater price erosion in existing products amid rising competition and delayed launches of new products or import ban on existing products following scrutiny from the USFDA.

However, over the medium term, the ratings agency sees trend reversal with 7% annual growth in revenues of regulated markets and 6% annual growth in overall exports, on the back of faster product approvals from the FDA.

Pharma stocks finished on a mixed note with Torrent Pharma share price and Aarti Drugs share price leading the gains.

Cadila Healthcare share price surged 2.1% after it was reported that the company's wholly owned subsidiary -- Zydus Pharmaceuticals (USA) has received final approval from the USFDA to market Clomipramine Hydrochloride capsules USP in strengths of 25 mg, 50 mg and 75 mg.

Also, Lupin share price finished up by 0.4% on the BSE as the company received final approval for its Calcipotriene Topical Solution, 0.005% (Scalp Solution) from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to market a generic version of Dovonex Scalp Solution.

Calcipotriene Topical Solution had annual sales of approximately US$5.9 million in the US.

Moving on to news from energy sector. Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that the government think-tank Niti Aayog is working on a policy to bring down the annual oil import bill by US$100 billion by the year 2030 through extensive use of methanol in cooking gas and transportation fuel.

He also said that the government will be soon announcing a policy which calls for 15% blending of methanol in petrol and will also reduce the cost of the fuel by 10%. Besides, he noted that India is the world's third-largest oil importer and the government has been making efforts to bring down imports by using methanol as an alternative fuel.

Besides, he said that use of methanol can result in great environmental benefits and its extensive use can reduce consumption of diesel by at least 20% in next 5-7 years. He noted that 20% blending of methanol with cooking fuel LPG will be low hanging fruit as it would result in immediate savings of Rs 60 billion a year.

Energy stocks finished the day mixed with Suzlon energy share price and Gujarat State Petronet share price leading the gains.

In another development, Aarti Industries has signed Rs 100 billion multi-year exclusive supply contract with a leading global chemical conglomerate (customer). This contract entails supply of a high value specialty chemical intermediate over a period of 20 years.

The supplies are expected to commence from 2020 with an estimated revenue generation of Rs 100 billion over the contract period. With this deal, the company is set to enter a new chemistry range, first of its kind in India; and its end product is amongst the major growth initiatives for the customer.

The company will be investing US$35 - US$40 million to setup dedicated large scale manufacturing facility for production of this specialty chemical intermediate, and will be built on the basic technology package received from the customer.

Aarti Industries share price finished the day up by 6.5% on the BSE.

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