Indian share markets remain in green

Tue, 4 Jun 11:30 am

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Indian share markets have remained in green during the previous two hours of trade. Healthcare and capital gods sectors are leading the gains while information technology and consumer durables are facing the maximum selling pressures.

The BSE Sensex is up by 91 points and NSE-Nifty is up by 29 points. BSE Mid Cap index is up by 0.5% while BSE Small Cap index is up by 0.6%. The rupee is trading at 56.66 to the US dollar.

All but three steel shares, Jindal Steel, Tayo Rolls and Gujarat Mineral Development are trading in green with JSW Ispat and Maharashtra Seamless leading the gains. State-run Steel Authority of India (SAIL) has recorded the best-ever production of saleable steel for May at 1.1 million tonnes (MT), up by 11% over the corresponding month previous year. The production of value added and special steel too surged around 8% during the month against the corresponding month of the last year. Meanwhile, the production of crude steel at 1.152 MT for the month was also the highest. The production of the company is likely to further improve in the coming months as its ongoing Rs 619 bn expansion is getting progressively commissioned.

SAIL has reported a decline of 71.7% in its net profit at Rs 4.5 bn in 4QFY13 as compared to net profit of Rs 15.8 bn in the same quarter previous year. Total income from operation of the company has decreased by 9.9% to Rs 123.3 bn as compared to Rs 136.9 bn in the corresponding quarter of last year. SAIL's share is trading up by 1%.

All Indian Pharma shares are trading in the green with Orchid Chemicals and Piramal Enterprises leading the gains. According to a leading financial news daily, the European Union's Anti Trust Commission may impose a fine on Ranbaxy Labs for delaying the launch of the low- cost generic version of Citalopram, a blockbuster anti-depressant in the European Union market. An agency report from Brussels has said that the European regulator would press ahead with pay-for-delay deals in the pharmaceutical sector this month, imposing fines on Ranbaxy and eight other drug manufacturers for limiting access of cheaper products to the market. The competition watchdog, in its preliminary view in July 2012, has held that the patent settlement agreements between Lundbeck, the Danish innovator firm and other generic firms, including Ranbaxy, has been aimed at preventing the market entry of cheaper generic medicines, violating EU's antitrust rules. Besides Ranbaxy, other firms which have inked similar patent settlement agreements with Lundbeck to launch their generic version include Merck, Generics UK, Arrow, Resolution Chemicals, Xellia Pharmaceuticals, Alpharma and AL Industrier. Ranbaxy's share is trading up by 2.7%.