After starting today's session on a negative note, Indian indices have continued to trade in the red. Heavyweights in Sensex are trading weak with stocks from the IT and Metal space witnessing selling pressure. However, stocks from the Capital goods and oil and gas sector are trading strong.
The BSE-Sensex is trading down by 155 points and NSE-Nifty is trading down by 32 points. BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices are trading up by 0.23% and 0.28% respectively. The rupee is trading at 61.41 to the US dollar.
Indian pharmaceutical stocks are trading mixed today. Elder pharma and Indoco remedies are the leading gainers while Torrent pharma and Sun pharma are the leading losers. Ranbaxy has reported a loss of Rs 10.29 bn for the 2014 December quarter compared to Rs 1.5 bn in the year ago period. It's the company's biggest quarterly loss. Net sales fell 9.5% to Rs 26.18 bn from Rs 28.93 bn in the year-ago period. Sales in the Indian market saw a growth of 1% at Rs 5.9 bn. Sales in the US market fell to Rs 8.2 bn in the December quarter. Company's forex loss stood at Rs 1.3 bn this quarter compared to Rs 0.1 bn profit from the 2013 December quarter. Last year, the company had agreed to settle litigation related to its participation in Texas Medicaid, the US federal-state health care. The settlement deal was worth about US$ 40 m.
Banking stocks are trading weak with Union Bank and ICICI Bank being the leading pack of losers. However, HDFC Bank continues to trade strong. According to a leading financial daily, Yes bank has signed a pact with OPIC, a subsidiary of US government's development finance institution for US$ 220 m (Rs 13.5 bn) loan. The loan will be utilized to support the development of private sector, in particular micro, small and medium enterprises. The loan is for 12 years and the bank will draw it in one go. Overall, the micro-SME sector contributes about 40% to India's exports, and contributes about 35% to the country's GDP.
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