Indian equity markets continue to rally

Thu, 3 Oct 01:30 pm

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Backed by persistent buying activity Indian markets continued to trade in the green during the post noon trading session. Barring stocks from FMCG sector all the sectoral indices are trading in green. The most noticeable upward movement is witnessed in metal and IT stocks.

BSE-Sensex is up by 300 points and NSE-Nifty is trading up by 104 points. While BSE Mid Cap index is trading up by 1.24%, BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.7%.The rupee is trading at 61.91 to the US dollar.

Most of the Indian pharma stocks are trading in green with Panacea biotech and Dishman pharma leading the pack of gainers. Lupin Ltd, announced that the company has launched generics of Zymaxid 0.5%, an ophthalmic solution in the US market. The drug is generically known as gatifloxacin ophthalmic solution 0.5%. The branded market size of the drug is $ 62 m. Lupin was FTF and holds 180-days exclusivity on this drug. Lupin had earlier received approval from USFDA for this drug. The said drug is indicated for the treatment of bacterial conjunctivitis. The drug is the first launch in the ophthalmic category in US. In April 2011, Lupin had filed an application with Para IV on this drug and was subsequently sued by the innovator Allegan. The patents in issue are patent number '045 and '283 with expiry in year 2016 and 2020. As both the patents are still to expire, it is still not clear whether the said launch is at risk or Lupin has won some favorable ruling. Lupin was trading up by 1.02% at the time of writing.

Majority of the FMCG stocks are trading in the green with Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL and P&G Hygiene being among the major gainers. However, Hindustan Unilever and Marico are among the few stocks trading in the red. As per a leading financial daily, Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) is expanding its indirect reach in villages to increase focus on its rapidly growing rural sales. The company has initiated a feeder wholesalers’ programme, Pragati, on a pilot basis in villages with population of around 3,000. Under this programme, 15,000 wholesalers will be backed by technology to indirectly reach out to remote villages in the country. The company hopes to get indirect coverage on 50,000 additional villages through its Pragati initiative. Reportedly, GCPL presently has a direct coverage of 50,000 villages. With rural sales growing faster than the urban sales, the company already has a 'Operation Vistaar’ which is a rural sales promotion and channel development in states like Bihar. GCPL wants to launch new products in the household insecticides category as well as push sales of existing brands, Hit and GoodKnight, in the rural markets. In the June 2013 quarter, the company reported a 24% YoY rise in consolidated sales backed by double-digit growth in each of its domestic and overseas markets. GCPL’s stock is currently trading up by 4%.