Pharma stocks in demand

Weakness in global stocks caused by continued militant violence in Iraq pulled Indian stocks lower in what was a lacklustre trading session. Shares of automobile companies rose after news reports in late trade indicated that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has announced extension of the concessional excise duty on automobiles, capital goods and consumer goods by six months till 31 December 2014. The barometer index, the SP BSE Sensex, shed 55.16 points or 0.22%, up 39.35 points from the day’s low and off 114.06 points from the day’s high. The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was positive.

Index heavyweight and cigarette maker ITC declined. Among FMCG stocks, Britannia Industries scaled record high. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) declined. Some private banks declined. Most realty stocks gained. Shares of state-run aluminium major National Aluminium Company jumped. Shares of pharmaceutical companies were in demand. Engineers India surged after the company said that the Government has decided to grant Navratna status to the company. Many construction stocks gained after the Ministry of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping on Tuesday, 24 June 2014, said it is considering switching to EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) model from the current PPP (Public Private Partnership) for construction of highways.

The SP BSE Sensex shed 55.16 points or 0.22% to settle at 25,313.74, its lowest closing level since 23 June 2014. The index shed 94.51 points at the day’s low of 25,274.39 in late trade. The index rose 58.90 points at the day’s high of 25,427.80 in early trade, its highest level since 18 June 2014.

The CNX Nifty lost 10.95 points or 0.14% to settle at 7,569.25, its lowest closing level since 23 June 2014. The index hit a low of 7,557.05 in intraday trade. The index hit a high of 7,589.25 in intraday trade.

The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was positive. On BSE, 1,681 shares gained and 1,350 shares fell. A total of 111 shares were unchanged.

The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 47.78 points or 0.52% at 9,208.66. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 35.08 points or 0.35% at 10,012.79. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The SP BSE FMCG index (down 0.37%), the SP BSE Bankex (down 0.43%), the SP BSE Capital Goods index (down 0.7%) and the SP BSE Oil Gas index (down 0.79%) underperformed the Sensex.

The SP BSE Consumer Durables index (up 0.87%), the SP BSE Realty index (up 0.87%), the SP BSE Healthcare index (up 0.84%), the SP BSE Auto index (up 0.76%), the SP BSE Power index (up 0.38%), the SP BSE IT index (up 0.14%) the SP BSE Teck index (down 0.01%) and the SP BSE Metal index (down 0.09%) outperformed the Sensex.

Among the 30 Sensex shares, 15 rose and remaining shares fell.

Index heavyweight and cigarette maker ITC declined 1.53% to Rs 315.50. The stock hit high of Rs 319.60 and low of Rs 315. The stock had recovered on Tuesday, 24 June 2014, after Monday’s slide triggered by reports that Union health minister Harsh Vardhan has suggested increase in excise duty on cigarettes in upcoming final Union Budget for 2014-15 to deter people from smoking.

Britannia Industries climbed 5.92% to Rs 997.50. The stock hit a record high of Rs 1,008 in intraday trade.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) declined 0.84% to Rs 1,050.80. The stock hit high of Rs 1,060 and low of Rs 1,048.60.

Shares of automobile companies rose after news reports in late trade indicated that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has announced extension of the concessional excise duty on automobiles, capital goods and consumer goods by six months till 31 December 2014. Maruti Suzuki India (up 2.87% to Rs 2,485), Mahindra Mahindra (MM) (up 1.48% to Rs 1,184.50) and Tata Motors (up 0.74% to Rs 445.40) gained.

Ashok Leyland surged 5.98% to Rs 38.10. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 38.60 in intraday trade.

Among two-wheeler makers, Hero MotoCorp (up 1.43% to Rs 2,651) and TVS Motor Company (up 4.59% to Rs 148.20) gained.

Bajaj Auto rose 2.72% to Rs 2,281.15 after hitting record high of Rs 2,294.85 in intraday trade.

At the time of presentation of Interim Budget for 2014-15, the Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had in February this year reduced excise duty on small cars, two wheelers, scooters and commercial vehicles to 8% from 12%. Excise duty on sports utility vehicles (SUVs) was cut to 24% from 30% and that on mid and large cars was cut to 24/20% from 27/24%. At that time, the reduction is excise duty was restricted till 30 June 2014 as an interim relief measure for the auto sector.

Similarly, excise duty was cut to 10% from 12% for a period up to 30 June 2014 for capital goods and consumer durable falling under chapter 84 and chapter 85 of the Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act. The chapter 84/85 includes products like boiler, turbine, transformers, motors, air conditioners, toaster, oven, switches, switchgears etc.

Shares of companies operating in capital goods sector were mixed. Bharat Electronics (up 4.74%), BEML (up 1.69%) and ABB India (up 0.86%) gained. Siemens (down 0.02%), Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) (down 0.2%), Crompton Greaves (down 0.4%), Havells India (down 0.41%), LT (down 1.19%), Thermax (down 2.01%) declined.

Shares of consumer durables makers rose. Bajaj Electricals (up 1.14%), Hawkins Cookers (up 1.12%) and TTK Prestige (up 0.79%) gained. Whirlpool of India (down 1.16%) and Symphony (down 0.94%) declined.

Shares of pharmaceutical companies were in demand. Biocon (up 4.2%), Strides Arcolab (up 2.96%), Aurobindo Pharma (up 2.81%), Cadila Healthcare (up 2.46%), Lupin (up 1.47%), Ranbaxy Laboratories (up 1.04%), Wockhardt (up 0.99%) and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 0.8%) edged higher. Cipla was almost unchanged at Rs 426.30.

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories rose 0.75% after the company announced the launch of Paricalcitol Capsules, 1 mcg, 2 mcg and 4 mcg, a therapeutic equivalent generic version of ZEMPLAR (Paricalcitol) Capsules in the US market on 24 June 2014. The ZEMPLAR brand and its generic had US sales of about $109.6 million for the year ended 31 March 2014, Dr Reddy’s Lab said.

National Aluminium Company which is known by its acronym Nalco rose 6.34% to Rs 62.05, with the stock extending Tuesday’s 6.19% gain. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 62.55 in intraday trade.

Hindalco Industries shed 0.12% after the company said during market hours that CRISIL has downgraded the company’s long term debt rating from AA+/Stable to AA/Stable.

IT stocks were mostly higher on positive economic data in US, the biggest outsourcing market for the Indian IT firms. Tech Mahindra (up 0.74%), HCL Technologies (up 0.23%) and Infosys (up 0.08%) edged higher. Wipro slipped 0.55%.

TCS dropped 0.16% to Rs 2,302. The stock hit high of Rs 2,318 and low of Rs 2,295. The company said during market hours that it has been selected by Dutch insurance firm, REAAL N.V., to develop and modernize the mainframe applications and servicing the company’s life insurance portfolio. The five-year engagement will be focused on building a scalable and best in class technology platform for REAAL N.V. as it looks to increase agility across the business.

Shares of private banks declined. ICICI Bank (down 1.56%), HDFC Bank (down 0.62%), Axis Bank (down 0.65%), and Yes Bank (down 2.89%) declined. Kotak Mahindra Bank rose 0.65%.

IndusInd Bank rose 0.44% to Rs 573.50. The bank today announced the launch of its Currency Chest at Guindy, Chennai. This will enable the bank’s branches and ATMs in the Southern part of the country to handle larger volumes of cash, IndusInd Bank said. The bank has drawn up an ambitious plan for setting up a sizeable number of Currency Chests across India in line with the bank’s business growth.

HDFC gained 0.11% to Rs 995.05 after hitting record high of Rs 1,002.90 in intraday trade.

Shares of finance companies which provide loans against gold rose after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday, 24 June 2014, allowed banks to engage non-deposit-taking non-banking finance companies as banking correspondents for financial inclusion. Manappuram Finance (up 2.15%) and Muthoot Finance (up 0.08%) gained. Working as banking correspondents provides a strong fee income opportunity for these non-deposit-taking lenders.

Reliance Communications (RCom) was up marginally by 0.03% to Rs 151.40 in volatile trade. The stock hit high of Rs 153.25 and low of Rs 146.40. RCom after trading hours on Tuesday, 24 June 2014, announced the launch of qualified institutional placement (QIP) and also said that board has approved issuing 8.67 crore equity warrants to promoters on preferential basis. RCom has priced the QIP at Rs 142.14 a share. The company has set the floor price for issue of equity warrants to promoters at Rs 150 each. As per the entitlement ratio, each equity warrant can be converted into one equity share. RCom will raise about Rs 1300 crore from the issue of equity warrants to promoters.

The proceeds of the QIP and preferential allotment will be used primarily for repayment of debt and deleveraging the balance sheet of the company, RCom said in a statement.

Engineers India surged 6.9% after the company said that the Government has decided to grant Navratna status to the company. The announcement was made after market hours on Tuesday, 24 June 2014. The Navratna status will give the state-run company’s board of directors more financial and operational autonomy.

Many construction stocks gained after the Ministry of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping on Tuesday, 24 June 2014, said it is considering switching to EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) model from the current PPP (Public Private Partnership) for construction of highways. Patel Engineering (up 1.06%), NCC (up 8.08%), Gammon India (up 5%), ILFS Transportation Networks (up 5.02%) edged higher. Valecha Engineering fell 1.79%.

IRB Infrastructure Developers rose 5.82% to Rs 229. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 230.45 in intraday today, 25 June 2014.

After reviewing implementation of road projects, the Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari said on Tuesday, 24 June 2014, that financing at low interest rates is also being explored for construction of highways under EPC model. He said over 260 projects involving about Rs 60000 crore that were taken up in PPP model are currently stalled because of various reasons. Out of this amount, large percentage has also become Non Performing Assets (NPA) for the banks. The Minister reviewed such stalled projects in various states over the last two days and said that solutions to such projects costing over Rs 40000 crore have been discussed and they are to be resolved now.

Gadkari said that after two years, a target of building roads at a rate of 30 kilometres per day will be set. Currently it is even becoming difficult to build roads at a rate of 3 kilometres per day, the minister said.

Gadkari also announced that road building works amounting to about Rs 20000 crore will be undertaken in Ladakh, Leh regions of Jammu Kashmir to promote tourism besides the infrastructure. This includes a project of Rs 10000 crore to build a tunnel.

Most realty stocks gained. Godrej Properties (up 2.57%), Housing Development Infrastructure (HDIL) (up 2.22%), Indiabulls Real Estate (up 1.38%), Unitech (up 0.43%) and D B Realty (up 0.14%) gained. But, DLF fell 0.96%.

Parsvnath Developers rose by maximum permissible limit of 5% to Rs 36.25 on reports that company plans to divest land parcels worth Rs 1000 crore to raise funds. However, company the clarified during market hours that there are no specific negotiations going on in this regard and the company may either sell the non-core assets if the assets fetch a good price or enter into joint venture arrangements, in case such assets do not fetch a reasonably good price.

Bajaj Hindusthan fell 2.54% to Rs 30.65 on profit booking after the stock jumped 17.13% in the preceding two trading sessions to Rs 31.45 on 24 June 2014, from a recent low of Rs 26.85 on 20 June 2014.

Indian Hotels Company (IHCL) jumped 5.16% to Rs 111.10. The Rights Issue Committee of the company has finalised the terms and conditions of the compulsory convertible debenture (CCDs) to be issued on rights basis and has decided on issue price of Rs 55 per CCD. The face value of each CCD has been fixed at Rs 55. The committee has also decided on the entitlement ratio of 9 CCDs for every 40 equity shares of the company, IHCL said. As per the conversion ratio, each CCD of Rs 55 will be automatically and compulsorily converted into one equity share of Rs 1 each at a premium of Rs 54 after 18 months from the allotment of the CCDs. The company said it will not pay any interest to the holders of CCDs. The announcement was made after market hours on Tuesday, 24 June 2014.

The CCDs are to be issued to the existing shareholders of the company for an amount not exceeding Rs 1000 crore.

Ricoh India rose by maximum permissible limit of 10% to Rs 134 after the company said its board will meet on 1 July 2014 to consider the matter of foreign portfolio inward investment through sale of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) bonds for a period of three years. The announcement comes close on the heels of a failed delisting attempt from its Japanese parent. Ricoh India is a subsidiary of Japan’s Ricoh Co. Shares of Ricoh India are not listed on NSE.

With small gains, the Sensex hit one-week high at the onset of the trading session. Key benchmark indices alternately swung between positive and negative zone in early trade. The Sensex continued to alternately move between positive and negative zone in morning trade. Key benchmark indices hovered in negative terrain in mid-morning trade. Key benchmark indices trimmed losses after hitting fresh intraday low in early afternoon trade. The Sensex hit fresh intraday low in afternoon trade as European stocks dropped in early trade there. A bout of volatility was witnessed as key benchmark indices trimmed losses after hitting fresh intraday low in late trade.

The Sensex has risen 1,096.40 points or 4.52% in June so far (till 25 June 2014). The Sensex has gained 4,143.06 points or 19.56% in calendar year 2014 so far (till 25 June 2014). From a 52-week low of 17,448.71 on 28 August 2013, the Sensex has risen 7,865.03 points or 45.07%. From a record high of 25,725.12 hit on 11 June 2014, the Sensex is off 411.38 points or 1.59%.

Indian stocks may remain volatile tomorrow, 26 June 2014, as traders roll over positions in the futures options (FO) segment from the near month June 2014 series to July 2014 series. The near-month June 2014 FO contract expire tomorrow, 26 June 2014.

Brent crude oil futures dropped after Oil Minister Abdul Kareem al-Luaibi was quoted as saying that militant violence has not affected oil production and that the country plans a big increase of crude exports next month. Brent crude futures for August delivery were off 57 cents at $113.89 a barrel. The contract had risen 34 cents to settle at $114.46 on Tuesday, 24 June 2014. Iraq is a key oil exporter in the world.

The Budget Session of Parliament will commence from 7 July 2014 and the session is scheduled to conclude on the 14 August 2014, the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs said on Tuesday, 24 June 2014.

European stocks fell for a fourth day on Wednesday, 25 June 2014, the longest stretch in seven weeks, as violence in the Middle East escalated. Key benchmark indices in UK, France and Germany were down by 0.38% to 0.63%.

Asian stocks dropped on Wednesday, 25 June 2014, led by material shares, as escalating violence in the Middle East sapped demand for riskier assets. Key benchmark indices in Japan, China, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan fell by 0.02% to 0.71%.

Trading in US index futures indicated a flat opening of the US stocks on Wednesday, 25 June 2014. US stocks fell for the second day on Tuesday, 24 June 2014, as reports of escalating violence in the Middle East overshadowed data that boosted optimism in the world’s biggest economy.

Data showed purchases of new homes in the US rose in May by the most in 22 years, indicating the industry is rebounding from a winter-induced lull at the start of the year. The Conference Board’s index of US consumer confidence increased to 85.2 in June from 82.2 a month earlier, the New York-based private research group said yesterday, 24 June 2014.

Powered by Capital Market – Live News

Pharma stocks in demand