Pharma stocks offer the sweet pill

Tue, 9 Oct Closing

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Leading stocks from Indian pharma sector stole the show today as the benchmark indices in Indian equity markets managed to hold on to their gains since the start of the day's trade. Sectoral indices across the board except auto and energy closed in the positive today. While the Sensex today closed higher by around 84 points, gains on the NSE-Nifty came in at around 29 points. The BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices ended higher by around 0.5% respectively.

Asian indices across the board closed higher today with Europe too trading in the positive currently. The rupee was placed at Rs 52.76 to the dollar at the time of writing.

As per a business daily, Ranbaxy Laboratories' wholly owned subsidiary - Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc (RPI) has launched the authorized generic cevimeline hydrochloride 30 mg capsules in the US market, under an agreement with Daiichi Sankyo, Inc. Cevimeline hydrochloride is indicated for the treatment of symptoms of dry mouth associated with Sjogren's syndrome. The drug is presently distributed by Daiichi Sankyo, under the brand name Evoxac. Evoxac generated total annualized sales of $62.4 million in the US as per IMS.

Ranbaxy's revenues grew by 71% YoY in 1QFY12 and were led by the strong performance of the US business and the emerging markets. The US business recorded sales growth of around 172% YoY. This was largely led by healthy growth in base business sales and continued sale of 2 exclusivity products notably Lipitor and Caduet.

Meanwhile, in the telecom sector, a ministerial panel has recommended that the fees paid in 2008 by those telecom operators set to lose their permits after a Supreme Court order be adjusted against the price in an upcoming auction or be refunded. However, this would be possible only for those companies against whom there is no criminal liability. The Supreme Court has ordered cancellation of all the permits granted in a tainted 2008 sale and asked the government to redistribute airwaves through an open auction. It would be the last chance for eight carriers, including Idea Cellular, to win back their lost permits.

State run oil marketing companies announced a marginal decrease of 56 paise a litre in petrol price, passing on the gains of appreciation in the rupee value against the US dollar to consumers. Meanwhile, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) lost Rs 26 bn on petrol sale during April-September quarter due to inability to change the retail selling prices to the desired extent in line with market conditions. Other than petrol, the fuel retailers also lose heavily on sale of diesel, cooking gas (LPG) and kerosene. The three firms are projected to lose Rs. 1.6 trillion in revenue on sale of the three products during the current fiscal.