Indices extend rally; pharma shares decline

The domestic equity barometers extended gains and hit fresh highs in mid afternoon trade. The Nifty was trading above the 16,500 mark. Pharma shares declined for the fourth day in a row.

At 14:23 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 541.76 points or 0.99% to 55,385.74. The Nifty 50 index added 143.60 points or 0.88% to 16,508.

The Sensex hit a record high of 55,362.89 and the Nifty hit a record high of 16,507.35 in afternoon trade.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.02% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.06%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1521 shares rose and 1641 shares fell. A total of 127 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Pharma index slipped 0.40% to 14,077. The index has declined 3.14% in four straight sessions.

Aurobindo Pharma (down 7.24%), Cipla (down 0.76%), Biocon (up 0.58%), Dr. Reddy's Labs (down 0.56%) and Alkem Laboratories (down 0.44%) declined.

Meanwhile, Cadila Healthcare (up 2.69%), Torrent Pharma (up 1.16%), Divi's Labs (up 0.63%), Sun Pharma (up 0.31%) and Lupin (up 0.26%) edged higher.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Gujarat Fluorochemicals rose 2.54% to Rs 1736.90. The company's consolidated net profit jumped 115.36% to Rs 151.16 crore on 63.27% rise in revenue from operations to Rs 911.94 crore in Q1 FY22 over Q1 FY21. On a sequential basis, net profit increased by 37% while revenue from operations grew by 8.53% in Q1 FY22 over Q4 FY21.

Zensar Technologies added 0.93% to Rs 422.05. The IT company announced it has signed a four year multi-million-dollar contract with the City of San Diego for Workplace and Enterprise Compute Manage IT services. The contract has the option of extension of two additional two-year terms with the total not to exceed the value of $122 million.

Numbers to Track:

In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee rose to 74.2925 from its previous closing of 74.2550.

MCX Gold futures for 5 October 2021 settlement rose 0.27% to Rs 46,490.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was down 0.07% to 92.97.

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 6.234% from its previous close of 6.226%.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for October 2021 settlement declined 41 cents or 0.57% to $70.90 a barrel.

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