Sensex Ends 274 Points Lower; Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Cipla Among Top Nifty Losers

Tue, 27 Jul Closing

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Indian share markets witnessed volatile trading activity throughout the day today and ended lower.

Benchmark indices were caught in the global crossfire as a heavy selloff in Chinese tech giants soured sentiment in late noon deals today.

Add to it, the US markets seemed nervous ahead of the Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting that kicks off later in the day.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 274 points (down 0.5%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed lower by 78 points (down 0.5%).

Hindalco Industries and SBI Life Insurance were among the top gainers today.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Cipla, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 15,732, down by 89 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE MidCap index ended down by 0.6%, while the BSE SmallCap index ended on a flat note today.

Sectoral indices ended on a negative note with stocks in the healthcare sector and power sector witnessing most of the selling pressure.

Metal stocks, on the other hand, witnessed buying interest.

Shares of Bajaj Finserv and Ajanta Pharma hit their respective 52-week highs today.

Asian stock markets ended on a negative note today.

The Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite ended the day down by 4.2% and 2.5%, respectively.

The Nikkei ended up by 0.5% in today's session.

US stock futures are trading on a negative note today with the Dow Futures trading down by 153 points.

The rupee is trading at 74.46 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading up by 0.1% at Rs 47,500 per 10 grams.

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In news from the pharma sector, Alembic Pharma was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Shares of Alembic Pharmaceuticals dipped 11.5% to Rs 800 on the BSE in intra-day trade today after the company reported disappointing numbers for the quarter ended June 2021.

The company's consolidated profit after tax (PAT) declined 45.4% year on year (YoY) to Rs 1.6 bn on weak performance of US business.

The pharmaceutical company had posted a PAT of Rs 3 bn in the first quarter of the year 2021.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margins declined 1,258 basis points (bps) YoY to 17.8% due to higher other expenditure.

The company's revenues declined 1.1% YoY to Rs 13.3 bn with strong growth in domestic formulations being offset by a 38.1% YoY decline in US sales to Rs 3.7 bn.

Domestic formulations grew 57.2% YoY to Rs 4.81 bn.

The acute and specialty segments grew faster than the represented pharmaceutical market, the company said.

The total expenses incurred by the company for the quarter ended 30 June 2021, stood at Rs 11.5bn. It was Rs 9.8 bn for the year-ago period.

Pranav Amin, Managing Director of Alembic Pharmaceuticals, said,

• The India business grew exceptionally well and outpaced the industry, we hope to see this momentum continuing due to the initiatives undertaken recently.
  
  The US business faced price erosion due to increased competition. However, our long-term view of the US market remains intact.

Meanwhile, Alembic Pharma's research and development (R&D) spend increased by 17% during the quarter to Rs 1.7 bn, as compared to the said quarter last year.

Alembic Pharma share price ended the day down by 11.4% on the BSE.

Speaking of stocks, here is an illustration of the four phases that a stock goes through during its life cycle. The cycle repeats itself after the stock goes through all these for stages.