Indian share markets continued to trade below the dotted line in the post-noon trading session. Majority of the sectoral indices are trading in the red with oil and gas and auto stocks being the biggest losers. IT and pharma stocks are among the few stocks trading positive today.
BSE-Sensex is down 86 points and NSE-Nifty is trading 17 points down. BSE Mid Cap is trading 0.1% up and BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.9%. The rupee is trading at 60.62 to the US dollar.
Majority of the domestic pharma stocks are trading in the green led by Indoco Remedies and Elder Pharmaceuticals. As per a leading financial daily, Cadila Healthcare has won approval for anti-viral drug Acyclovir from United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA). The approval is for Acyclovir tablets in 400 mg and 800 mg strengths. As per IMS data, sales of acyclovir tablets in 2014 is estimated at USD 55.8 m. Cadila Healthcare stock is presently trading up 3.3%.
Steel stocks are trading on a mixed note today. While Jindal Saw and Tata Steel are leading the pack of gainers, Bhushan Steel is trading on a weak note. As per a leading business daily, Tata Steel is planning to have a tie-up with state owned mining major NMDC for sourcing of major raw material iron ore. As such, the company has sourced 100,000 tonnes of iron ore from NMDC in the last two months by participating in the e-auction and is now looking out for a long term supply tie-up. This is due to its captive mine in Odisha still remaining under the regulatory and legal glitches and unable to meet commissioning deadline of March 2015. The sourcing of ore from outside will reduce the company's margins and profits from its Kalinganagar plant in Odisha even if it reduces debt. As per company estimates, outside sourcing could squeeze margin in the range of 25% to 30%. The company plans to source from outside despite having three other captive mines in Jharkhand and Odisha which have plenty of reserves. However, they are far from its Odisha plant which will involve high freight costs besides impeding supplies to the company's flagship Jamshedpur plant.
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