Pharma shares gain; Nifty Pharma index up 5% in three days

In past two weeks, till Monday, the pharma index tanked 15%, against 2% rise in Nifty 50 index.

Shares of pharmaceutical companies were trading higher for the third straight trading session, with the Nifty Pharma index gaining more than 5% during the period.

Aurobindo Pharma and Divi’s Laboratories were up 5% each, while Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Cadila Healthcare, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Cipla, Lupin and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories were up in the range of 1% to 3% on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Jubilant Life Sciences, Pfizer, SMS Pharma, Marksans Pharma, Ipca Laboratories, Granules India, FDC and Strides Shasun, the non-index pharma stocks were trading higher between 3% and 5%.

At 09:55 am; Nifty Pharma index, the largest gainer among sectoral indices, was up 2.2% as compared to 0.02% decline in the Nifty 50 index. In past three trading sessions, it went up 5.3% against 0.2% rise in the benchmark index.

In past two weeks, till Monday, the pharma index tanked 15%, after most of pharmaceutical companies reported a weak set of numbers for the quarter ended March 2017 (Q4FY17), due to continuing increased competition and the challenging pricing environment in the biggest market US. On comparison, the Nifty 50 index had gained 2% during the period.

Nine pharmaceutical companies from the Nifty Pharma index announced their Q4FY17 results, have posted 8.7% year-on-year (Y-o-Y) decline in their aggregate net profit, first time in past seven quarters. The combined net sales of these companies grew single digit by 1.6% YoY, lowest in many quarters.

Aurobindo Pharma has gain 5.7% to Rs 607 on NSE in intra-day trade today. The stock rallied 17% in past three trading sessions, after the company said it believes launches and higher volume will drive growth in US, despite pricing pressure in the base business.

“New launches and a well-diversified portfolio have enabled Aurobindo to deliver steady growth in its US business in FY17, despite the high single-digit price erosion in the base business. Injectable launches will help improve product mix and margins,” analysts at IIFL Institutional Equities said in result update.

Company	15/05/2017	29/05/2017	% chg	LTP	% chg
Aurobindo Pharma	613.95	512.40	-16.54	599.80	17.06
Divi's Lab.	624.25	569.50	-8.77	612.50	7.55
Glenmark Pharma.	715.25	610.45	-14.65	653.40	7.04
Lupin	1284.50	1110.20	-13.57	1177.50	6.06
Glaxosmit Pharma	2429.30	2330.55	-4.06	2455.90	5.38
Dr Reddy's Labs	2675.80	2425.85	-9.34	2546.05	4.95
Cadila Health.	488.35	455.85	-6.66	473.65	3.90
Cipla	569.00	505.35	-11.19	523.70	3.63
Piramal Enterp.	2866.25	2645.25	-7.71	2736.10	3.43
Sun Pharma.Inds.	654.45	502.60	-23.20	516.35	2.74
LTP : Last traded price on NSE in Rs at 10:15 am.