Pharma stocks hammered

Volatility was the order of the day as the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, slipped into the red from green after extending initial gains in morning trade. At 10:15 IST, the Sensex was down 22.36 points or 0.09% at 24,944.04. The Nifty 50 index was trading a tad higher. The Nifty was currently up 1.95 points or 0.03% at 7,617.05. The Sensex failed to retain the psychologically important 25,000 mark after crossing that level earlier during the trading session.

The Sensex rose 87.33 points, or 0.35% at the day's high of 25,053.73 in morning trade. The index fell 48.84 points, or 0.2% at the day's low of 24,917.56 in early trade. The Nifty rose 30.70 points, or 0.4% at the day's high of 7,645.80 in morning trade. The index fell 13 points, or 0.17% at the day's low of 7,602.10 in early trade.

The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market turned negative from positive in morning trade. On BSE, 998 shares fell and 779 shares rose. A total of 121 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently down 0.45%. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently down 0.28%. The decline in both these indices was higher than the Sensex's decline in percentage terms.

In the overseas stock market, most Asian markets were trading lower on continued concern over whether the US Federal Reserve might hike interest rates at its April meeting. US stocks finished flat yesterday, 28 March 2016, as gains in consumer-discretionary and materials shares were mitigated by weakness in utilities and energy. US Fed Chair Janet Yellen will deliver a speech at the Economic Club of New York later today, 29 March 2016. Markets globally expect Yellen to drop hints about future rate hike path.

Telecom stocks were in demand. Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (up 2.27%), Idea Cellular (up 1.56%), Reliance Communications (up 0.70%), MTNL (up 0.59%) and Bharti Airtel (up 0.36%) edged higher.

A selloff was witnessed in pharma stocks. Lupin (down 12.19%), Wockhardt (down 4.37%), Aurobindo Pharma (down 4.16%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (down 3.99%), Strides Shasun (down 3.61%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (down 3.58%), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (down 3.48%), Cipla (down 3.27%), Divi's Laboratories (down 3.06%), IPCA Laboratories (down 2.14%), Cadila Healthcare (down 2.13%), GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (down 1.27%) and Piramal Enterprises (down 0.04%) edged lower. Alkem Laboratories was up 0.25%.

Bank of India (BoI) was up 1.66% to Rs 95.15. The bank announced during trading hours today, 29 March 2016, that the Government of India has conveyed its approval to infuse Rs 1150 crore in BoI through preferential allotment of equity shares in favour of Government of India, its principal shareholder.

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