Pharma shares in demand

Buying continued in mid-morning trade as key benchmark indices extended gains and hit fresh intraday high. At 11:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 235.80 points or 0.72% at 32,832.98. The Nifty 50 index was up 83.35 points or 0.83% at 10,127.45.

The Sensex rose 258.91 points, or 0.79% at the day's high of 32,856.09 in mid-morning trade, its highest intraday level since 5 December 2017. The index rose 0.94 points at the day's low of 32,598.12 in early trade. The Nifty rose 84.25 points, or 0.84% at the day's high of 10,128.35 in mid-morning trade, its highest intraday level since 5 December 2017. The index rose 17.80 points, or 0.18% at the day's low of 10,061.90 in early trade.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was up 1.03%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.97%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The broad market depicted strength. There were more than three gainers against every loser on BSE. 1,784 shares rose and 551 shares fell. A total of 92 shares were unchanged.

Pharmaceutical shares were in demand. Aurobindo Pharma (up 2%), IPCA Laboratories (up 1.33%), Lupin (up 1.32%), Wockhardt (up 1.07%), Piramal Enterprises (up 0.74%), Cadila Healthcare (up 0.73%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 0.72%), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (up 0.66%), Cipla (up 0.65%), Divi's Laboratories (up 0.64%), Strides Shasun (up 0.59%) and GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (up 0.50%), edged higher. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (down 0.01%) and Alkem Laboratories (down 1.13%), edged lower.

Cement shares were in demand. Ambuja Cements (up 1.11%), ACC (up 0.86%) and UltraTech Cement (up 0.76%), edged higher.

Grasim Industries was up 0.69%. Grasim has exposure to cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.

Bank of Maharashtra rose 1.36% after the bank said that it has kept base rate unchanged at 9.6%. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 6 December 2017.

Bank of Maharashtra also reviewed its marginal cost of funds based lending rates (MCLRs) for various tenors from 7 December 2017. The bank's MCLR for overnight loans will be 8.1%, the rate for one month will be 8.15% and for three months it will be 8.2%. The MCLR on 6-month loans will be 8.55% and for one-year loans the rate will be 8.65%, the bank said. Base rate is the minimum rate below which banks are not allowed to lend to its customers.

IDBI Bank rose 1.11% after the bank said its board approved sale of 7% of its equity held in National Securities Depository. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 6 December 2017. IDBI Bank said that its board of directors, approved the sale of 28 lakh equity shares of National Securities Depository (NSDL) constituting 7% of its total paid up equity capital held by IDBI Bank.

Overseas, most Asian shares declined as US policy uncertainty kept sentiment in check. US stocks ended mixed on Wednesday, as weakness in the energy sector spurred some minor selling that offset a recovery in the technology sector. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.16%. The S&P 500 fell 0.01%. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.21%.

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