Barometers turn rangebound; pharma stocks down for 2nd day

The barometers indices traded sideways with modest gains in early afternoon trade. At 12:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, added 264.52 or 0.58% at 46,224.01. The Nifty 50 index was up 70.45 points or 0.52% at 13,548.05.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.28% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rallied 0.8%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1860 shares rose and 894 shares fell. A total of 134 shares were unchanged.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 6,95,31,812 with 15,80,867 deaths. India reported 3,63,749 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,42,186 deaths while 92,90,834 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, was flat at 18.7125. The Nifty December 2020 futures were trading at 13,569.20, at a premium of 28.8 points compared with the spot at 13,540.40.

The Nifty option chain for 31 December 2020 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 24.02 lakh contracts at the 13,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 38.60 lakh contracts was seen at 13,000 strike price.

Meanwhile, NSE on Thursday announced that it has received Sebi's approval to launch derivatives on the Nifty Financial Services Index. NSE will launch the instrument from 11 January 2021. The contract size will be 40 with a strike price interval of 100. The expiry will be in line with Nifty and Bank Nifty F&O contracts.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Pharma index was down 0.33% to 12,399.40, declining for second consecutive trading session. The index lost 0.36% in two days.

Divi's Laboratories (down 1.53%), Alkem Laboratories (down 1.04%), Torrent Pharmaceuticals (down 0.89%), Lupin (down 0.43%), Biocon (down 0.36%) and Cipla (down 0.36%) declined.

Alembic Pharmaceuticals rose 1.32% to Rs 1,074.30 after the company announced that it received approval from the US drug regulator for its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) Asenapine Sublingual Tablets. Asenapine is an atypical antipsychotic indicated for bipolar I disorder as adjunctive treatment to lithium or valproate in adults. Alembic had previously received tentative approval for this ANDA.

Stocks in Spotlight:

ONGC surged 7.42% after a global brokerage firm reportedly upgraded the stock to 'overweight' from 'equal weight' and raised its price target to Rs 115 from Rs 84 earlier.

On Thursday, Brent Crude prices crossed $50 per barrel for the first time since March 2020. The February 2020 settlement contract gained $1.39 or 2.84% to settle at $50.25 in yesterday's trading session. The contract was currently trading 5 cents higher at $50.30 a barrel.

GE Power India rose 2.82% after the company's board on 10 December 2020 appointed Yogesh Gupta, as an additional director and whole-time director & chief financial officer of the company with effect from 16 December 2020.

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