Persistent selling hits indices

Wed, 11 Aug Closing

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   Pre-Open   

   09:30 am   

   11:30 am   

   01:30 pm   

Although markets began the day on a positive note, alternate bouts of buying and selling in the ensuing hours led the indices to oscillate to either side of yesterday’s close. However, post noon, selling activity intensified and this continued into the final trading hour with the indices closing well into the red. While the BSE Sensex closed lower by around 150 points (down 1%), the NSE Nifty lost around 40 points (down 1%). Midcap and smallcap stocks were also at the receiving end as the BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap lost around 1% each. Losses were largely seen in healthcare and banking stocks.

As regards global markets, most Asian indices closed weak today while European indices have also opened in the red. The rupee was trading at Rs 46.59 to the dollar at the time of writing.

Textiles major Raymond was one of the most sought after counters today as it closed higher by around 20%. Infact, the stock is up more than 40% in less than a week. Investors seem to be enthused by the company's decision to set up around 100 retail outlets in the current financial year. Furthermore, the company is also planning Rs 400 m expansion of its shirting fabrics joint venture with Italy's Gruppo Zambaiti. On the back of these initiatives and others, the company plans to have a much better performance in the current fiscal year than the previous couple of years. However, we believe that the stock price could already be reflecting too much optimism and given the volatile nature of the industry, this could indeed prove to be dangerous. To the company’s credit though it has been able to improve realizations and reduce losses during the June quarter on a YoY basis. But we believe that a lot more needs to be achieved going forward. Alok Industries and Arvind Ltd also closed higher today.

As per reports, ONGC, the domestic oil and gas major has proposed to Russian oil major Rosneft that the two jointly bid for oil fields in the Arctic. It should be noted that these oil fields are highly coveted and the largest to be put up for auction in the last five years. This move is yet another effort by ONGC to shore up India's oil security. Oil reserves in the world's second fastest growing economy are dwindling at a fast pace, forcing its homegrown companies to look at the same outside India. However, the companies here seem to be meeting with some very strict competition, especially from their Chinese counterparts. However, both ONGC and Rosneft are currently tight lipped about the development. ONGC closed marginally higher today.

Pharma major Glenmark has entered into a settlement and license agreement with US based company Sepracor Inc. with respect to the latter’s drug ‘Lunesta’. As per the terms of the agreement, Glenmark will able to launch the generic version of ‘Lunesta’ in the US market in November 2013, which is about 2.5 months prior to the expiry of the patent on the drug. ‘Lunesta’ is indicated for the treatment of insomnia and generated annual sales of US$ 741 m for the twelve month period ending March 2010. This is a positive for Glenmark as it does away with the costs and uncertainty surrounding Para IV filings and provides some visibility in terms of revenues that could be generated from this drug in the future. The stock closed higher by 1%.