Indian share markets continued to witness selling pressure in the post-noon trading session. Barring IT, all the sectoral indices are trading in the red with metal, realty and banking stocks being the biggest losers.
BSE-Sensex is down 185 points and NSE-Nifty is trading 63 points down. BSE Mid Cap is trading 0.4% down and BSE Small Cap index is trading down by 0.3%. The rupee is trading at 60.3 to the US dollar.
Steel stocks are trading mixed with Maharashtra Seamless and Adhunik Metaliks being the major gainers whereas Jindal Steel and SAIL are among the biggest losers. As per a leading financial daily, India turned into a net steel exporter in FY14 after a gap of five years. According to the Joint Plant Committee, steel exports increased by 4% to 5.6 million tonnes (mt) whereas steel imports slumped by 31% to 5.4 mt in 2013-14. Going forward, steel exports are likely to be hit by the recent rupee appreciation as well as the expected recovery in the infrastructure projects in the country post elections that is likely to boost domestic steel demand. Domestic steel consumption in FY14 clocked a growth of a mere 0.6%, the slowest in last four years, to reach 73.9 mt. However JSW Steel has said that despite improvement in domestic demand, steel companies will continue to focus on exports backed by higher production and no currency fluctuations.
Majority of the domestic pharma stocks are trading in the green with Panacea Biotech and Biocon being among major gainers. However, Elder Pharma and Divi's Laboratories are a few stocks trading in the red. As per a leading financial daily, Lupin has voluntarily recalled 9,210 bottles of antibiotic drug Suprax used in the treatment of bacterial infections. As per US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), the recall has been initiated under Class III under which the drugs are not likely to cause adverse health consequences. Last year, Lupin had recalled 64,368 bottles of Suprax in the US market due to discolouration. According to the company, the present recall will not have any business consequence. Lupin stock is presently trading down marginally.
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