Pharma stocks decline

Weakness on the bourses continued in the mid-morning trade amid a global sell-off. At 11:15 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex shed 517.80 points or 1.5% at 33,895.36. The Nifty 50 index slipped 162.15 points or 1.53% at 10,414.70. The Sensex was trading below the 34,000 level after falling below that level in intraday trade. Asian stocks tanked today after a rout on Wall Street overnight amid rising interest rates.

Key indices opened sharply lower on weak global cues. Indices languished in negative terrain so far.

Among secondary indices, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.79%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index shed 0.61%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On the BSE, 1,561 shares declined and 847 shares advanced. A total of 111 shares were unchanged.

Pharma stocks declined. Aurobindo Pharma was down 1.89%, Divi's Laboratories 1.35%, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries 1.08%, Cipla 0.93% and Dr Reddy's Laboratories 0.48%. Lupin, however, was up 1.11%.

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals slumped 6.5% after consolidated net profit tumbled 78% to Rs 104.74 crore on 11.8% fall in net sales to Rs 2171.51 crore in Q3 December 2017 over Q3 December 2016. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 8 February 2018.

Glenn Saldanha, Chairman & MD, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, said that the overall performance was driven by the company's India, Europe, rest of the world (ROW) and active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) business. The US business continues to be very challenging. The India business rebounded and has shown good sales growth due to improvement in the overall demand environment, Saldanha said.

Auto stocks fell. Eicher Motors (down 1.7%), Bajaj Auto (down 1.31%), Tata Motors (down 1.25%), Hero MotoCorp (down 0.97%) and Maruti Suzuki India (down 0.97%) declined. Ashok Leyland (up 0.45%) edged higher.

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) was down 0.66%. The company today, 9 February 2018, agreed to sell 26.36 lakh equity shares of Rs 10 each held by it in Mahindra Sanyo Special Steel (MSSSPL), aggregating 22% of the paid-up equity share capital of MSSSPL, to Sanyo Special Steel Co (Sanyo), for a consideration of Rs 146.32 crore. Following the sale, company's shareholding in MSSSPL would come down to 29% from 51% of its share capital, and MSSSPL will cease to be a subsidiary of the company. The announcement was made during market hours today, 9 February 2018.

Overseas, Asian stocks tumbled after US stocks plummeted once again in the last session. China inflation as represented by the consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.6% month-on-month in January, well above the previous month's print of 0.3%, data released today, 9 February 2018 showed.

US stocks fell sharply yesterday, 8 February 2018 as strong earnings and economic data were not enough to quell investors' jitters on Wall Street about higher interest rates. US initial jobless claims decreased 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 221,000 for the week ended 3 February, the Labor Department said yesterday, 8 February 2018. The second straight weekly decline in claims pointed to strong job growth momentum.

In Europe, the Bank of England (BoE) yesterday, 8 February 2018, said it is likely to raise interest rates earlier and faster than previously expected to damp the effects of a stronger global economy on UK inflation. All nine members of the bank's Monetary Policy Committee agreed a statement that the central bank was no longer willing to tolerate inflation above its 2% target over the next three years, reports suggested.

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