India sole loser in Asian markets

Thu, 27 Sep Closing

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After starting off in the positive, profit booking in energy and engineering stocks led the indices in Indian equity markets into the negative territory post noon. Later buying interest in select FMCG and healthcare stocks failed to revive the markets. The Indian markets closed being the sole losers in Asia today. While the Sensex today closed lower by around 53 points, losses on the NSE-Nifty came in at around 14 points. The BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices, however, bucked the trend and ended higher by around 0.5% and 0.2% respectively.

Asian indices across the board closed higher today with Europe too trading in the positive currently. The rupee was placed at Rs 53.19 to the dollar at the time of writing.

Textile major Arvind Ltd's subsidiary, Arvind Lifestyle Brands, has acquired business operations of British fashion retailers Debenhams, Next and American Lifestyle Brand Nautica in India from Planet retail. Acquisition of 'Debenhams' signals the entry of Arvind into the luxury department store segment. The company plans to increase the numbers of Debenhams stores in India from 2 to 8 in the next 3 years. Further, the company will also enter into the fast growing segment of apparel specialty retail through 'Next'. The company plans to increase number of Next stores from 3 to 12 in the next 3 years.

Moreover, the licensing agreement with Nautica will strengthen company's position in high potential sportswear segment of the market. The company plans to set up additional 30 Nautica stores taking the tally of 41 free standing Nautica stores and 71 shops in next three years. Brand and retailing comprised almost 38% of Arvind's revenues in FY12.

Meanwhile, Dr Reddy's Laboratories has launched Montelukast Sodium Oral Granules, a bioequivalent generic version of Singulair in the US market, following the approval by the United States Food & Drug Administration (USFDA). The Singulair Oral Granules brand had US sales of about US$ 61 m during twelve months ending July 2012 according to IMS Health. Recently, Dr Reddy's also launched Amoxicillin tablets Capsules and Oral Suspension, a bioequivalent generic version of Amoxil tablets in the US markets on September 17, 2012.

In order to capitalize on the blockbuster drugs going off patent over the next few years, the company is focusing on building a strong pipeline in the US. Growth in the market will be triggered by increasing market share of products already launched as well as the latest launches. This is despite the severe pricing pressure, which is why it is important to keep up the pace of launches in such an environment. The company's partnerships with Merck Sereno as well as GSK Plc will further bolster revenues.