Pharma shares decline

Key benchmark indices were steady in afternoon trade on sustained buying demand in index pivotals. At 13:22 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 98.07 points or 0.28% at 35,344.34. The Nifty 50 index was up 32.85 points or 0.31% at 10,749.40. Pharma shares dropped. Cement stocks saw mixed trend. Global risk appetite got a boost from soft US inflation, helping alleviate worries of faster rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.69%, outperforming the Sensex. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.13%, underperforming the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On BSE, 1,127 shares rose and 1,344 shares fell. A total of 143 shares were unchanged.

Asian Paints gained 5.38% after consolidated net profit rose 3.4% to Rs 495.91 crore on 13.41% rise in total income to Rs 4527.83 crore in Q4 March 2018 over Q4 March 2017. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 10 May 2018.

K.B.S. Anand, Managing Director & CEO, Asian Paints said that the decorative paint business in India registered double digit volume growth in the current quarter with improved demand conditions. Material prices continued to witness an upward trend thereby exerting pressure on margins which was mitigated to an extent by the price increases taken.

Good demand conditions in the auto OEM and general industrial business segment led to improved performance of the automotive coating JV (PPG-AP). The performance of industrial coating JV (AP-PPG) saw an improvement in the current quarter based on good growth registered in the powder coating segment, K.B.S. Anand said.

Pharma shares dropped. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (down 2.74%), Cadila Healthcare (down 1.17%), Cipla (down 0.29%), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (down 0.37%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (down 1.5%), Lupin (down 0.79%), Alkem Laboratories (down 1.67%) and Wockhardt (down 0.42%) edged lower. GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (up 0.24%) and Aurobindo Pharma (up 2.89%) rose.

Cement stocks saw mixed trend. Ambuja Cements (down 0.84%) and ACC (down 1.24%) fell. UltraTech Cement (up 1.34%) and Shree Cement (up 0.29%) rose.

Grasim Industries was up 0.78%. Grasim has exposure to the cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.

Overseas, European stocks drifted lower in early trade. Asian shares were trading higher, tracking gains on Wall Street overnight, as softer-than-forecast US inflation data tempered expectations for faster Federal Reserve interest rate rises this year.

Investors also welcomed continued moves between the United States and North Korea to reduce tensions in the region. US President Donald Trump will meet North Korean leader Kim Jong un in Singapore next month amid high hopes of doing something very meaningful to curtail Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.

US stocks jumped on Thursday, with equities advancing in a broad rally that gave the Dow Jones Industrial Average its longest winning streak since February. Gains were supported by the latest economic data, which suggested the economy was healthy, but not growing so quickly that it was at risk of overheating.

In US, the consumer-price index rose 0.2% in April, while core CPI, which strips out food and energy, rose 0.1%. In another report on Thursday, the number of people who applied for first-time US unemployment benefits in early May stood at 211,000 for the second straight week, near a 49-year low.

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