Indian share markets turn green

Tue, 24 Sep 11:30 am

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After a weak opening, the Indian stock markets made a quick recovery in the last two hours of trade. Except Metal, all the sectoral indices are trading positive today.

The BSE-Sensex is up 106 points while the NSE-Nifty is trading up 37 points. The BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices are trading up by 0.4% and 0.3% respectively. The Rupee is trading at 62.6 to the US Dollar.

Indian pharma stocks are trading mixed today. Ipca Labs and J.B. Chemicals are leading the gainers; while Panacea Biotech and Cadila Healthcare are leading the pack of losers. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals ltd is up 1.1% today. Glenmark Generics Inc., USA the subsidiary of Glenmark Generics Ltd (which is a subsidiary of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals) has been granted final approval from USFDA for Desoximetasone ointment USP, 0.25%. The ointment is a generic version of Topicort® of Taro Pharmaceuticals; USA Inc. Glenmark announced that shipping of the product will commence immediately.Desoximetasone ointment is prescribed for the relief of the inflammatory and pruritic manifestations of corticosteroid-responsive dermatoses. This is basically a skin related problem that can also affect joints and nails. According to IMS Health sales data for the last 12 months ending June 2013, Desoximetasone Ointment had annual sales of approximately US$ 40 m.

IT stocks are trading mixed today. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Tech Mahindra are among the top gainers while Wipro and HCL Tech are among the losers. According to a leading financial daily, Indian IT companies may find it hard to realize the benefits of a weak rupee. A weak rupee will help Indian IT firms as it gives them more flexibility in pricing technology contracts compared to their multinational counterparts, but only if the rupee stabilises and stays at a given level for a longer period of time. The problem they face will be in the pricing of software contracts. It is a common practice in the IT sector for companies to offer discounts in the pricing of contracts to their clients, when the rupee weakens against the dollar. While this will happen this time as well, Indian IT companies believe that the fall in the rupee will help them only if it remains stable at these levels.

Since the beginning of the year, the rupee has fallen nearly 14% - from about 54 to a dollar to a little over 62 now - but has also seen extreme volatility with a fall of as much as 25%, when the rupee slipped to 68.4 against the dollar in August. The uncertainty over the level at which the currency will eventually stabilise has made IT exporters wary of offering any billing rate discounts to clients. Depending on how keen service providers are on winning a contract, they could start bidding more aggressively from now on. This trend will become clearer in the next few months as negotiations for new contracts usually begin towards the end of the year. However in this scenario where the rupee is depreciating, clients stand to benefit even in existing contracts if they have a clause linked to the exchange rate in the contract.