Benchmarks trade near day's high; media shares advance

Key benchmarks were hovering near day's high in mid-morning trade. At 11:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 219.32 points or 0.62% at 35,732.46. The Nifty 50 index was up 46.95 points or 0.44% at 10,732.55. Positive cues from other Asian shares boosted investors sentiment.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.10%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.09%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was almost even. On BSE, 1061 shares rose and 1087 shares fell. A total of 120 shares were unchanged.

Media shares rallied. Zee Entertainment Enterprises (up 3.18%), UFO Moviez India (up 1.75%), TV18 Broadcast (up 1.58%), PVR (up 1.25%), Network18 Media & Investments (up 0.79%) and Sun TV Network (up 0.58%), edged higher.

Most pharmaceutical shares declined. Lupin (up 0.58%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (up 0.56%), Strides Shasun (up 0.5%), Cipla (up 0.31%), Cadila Healthcare (up 0.28%) and Alkem Laboratories (up 0.18%), edged higher. GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (down 0.03%), Wockhardt (down 0.31%), Aurobindo Pharma (down 0.32%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (down 0.41%), IPCA Laboratories (down 0.47%) and Divi's Laboratories (down 1.21%), edged lower.

Piramal Enterprises was up 0.94%. The company during trading hours today, 28 November 2018, announced that the administrative committee of the board approved issuing privately placed secured non-convertible debentures upto Rs 400 crore with an option to retain over-subscription of upto Rs 100 crore, aggregating to total issue size to Rs 500 crore. The NCDs are proposed to be listed on wholesale debt market segment of NSE.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories was down 1.13%. The company during trading hours today, 28 November 2018, announced the launch of Chlorthalidone Tablets USP, 25 mg and 50 mg, a therapeutic equivalent generic version of Hygroton (chlorthalidone) Tablets, approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA). The Hygroton brand and generic had US sales of approximately $122 million MAT for the most recent twelve months ending in September 2018 according to IMS Health. Dr. Reddy's Chlorthalidone Tablets, USP are available in 25 mg tablets in the bottle-count sizes of 100 and 1000, and 50 mg tablets in the bottle-count size of 100.

Overseas, Asian shares were trading higher on Wednesday as investors wait for an important meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this week. The two leaders are expected to talk trade after Washington and Beijing applied additional tariffs on billions of dollars' worth of each other's imports. Those moves prompted concerns about slowing global economic growth.

US stocks bounced back from early losses to close higher Tuesday as gains in so-called defensive sectors helped to offset anxieties that a near-term resolution to trade tensions between the US and China remain elusive.

On the US data front, home prices across the country are rising at the slowest pace in nearly two years, according to the S&P/Case-Chiller 20-city Index.

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