Market erases early gains; pharma shares decline

The domestic equity barometers pared early gains and traded with minor cuts in morning trade. The Nifty traded below the 22,450 mark after the high of 22,619 in early trade. Pharma shares extended losses for the third consecutive trading session. Trading was volatile due to the expiry of weekly index options on the NSE.

At 10:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 13.2 points or 0.02% to 73,857.90. The Nifty 50 index shed 12 points or 0.05% to 22,429.35.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.30% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.49%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,262 shares rose and 1,247 shares fell. A total of 144 shares were unchanged.

The RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) kicked off its 3-day meeting deliberating interest rates and analysing the state of the economy on April 3 and will end on April 5. While the RBI is widely expected to keep rates on hold, any signals on inflation and economic growth will be closely watched, as per reports.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Pharma index shed 0.45% to 19,066.80. The index declined 0.73% in the three trading session.

Mankind Pharma (down 1.66%), Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries (down 1.17%), Torrent Pharmaceuticals (down 0.95%), Cipla (down 0.94%), Aurobindo Pharma (down 0.85%), Alkem Laboratories (down 0.74%), Granules India (down 0.67%), Dr Reddys Laboratories (down 0.51%), Zydus Lifesciences (down 0.39%) and Biocon (down 0.2%) edged lower.

On the other hand, Ipca Laboratories (up 2.75%) Sanofi India (up 1.24%) and Laurus Labs (up 0.86%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Punjab & Sind Bank shed 0.30%. The bank said that its board has been appointed Arnab Goswami as chief financial officer (CFO) of the Bank vice Mahima Agarwal for a period of 3 years with effect from 3 April 2024.

L&T Finance Holdings added 1.76% after the company recorded retail disbursements for Q4 FY24 is estimated at approximately Rs 15,030 crore, i.e., a growth of nearly 33% on a YoY basis.

Brigade Enterprises rose 0.85%. The company has signed a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) with United Oxygen Company Private Limited to develop a Grade A office space on ITPL Road, Whitefield in East Bengaluru. The project will have a leasable area of 3.0 L sq. ft., and a Gross Development Value (GDV) of around Rs 340 crore.

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