Midcap & smallcap buck trend

Tue, 5 Nov 01:30 pm

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Indian share markets regained some lost ground but continued to trade in the negative territory in the post-noon trading session. Majority of the sectoral indices are trading in the red with FMCG, pharma and IT stocks being the biggest losers. Realty, banking and auto are among the stocks trading in the green.

BSE-Sensex is down 136 points and NSE-Nifty is trading 29 points down. BSE Mid Cap is trading up 1% and BSE Small Cap index is trading down 0.8%. The rupee is trading at 61.7 to the US dollar.

FMCG stocks are trading in the green with Lakshmi Energy and Paper Products being the biggest gainers whereas Dabur and Godrej Consumer Products are among the major losers. As per a leading financial daily, Marico is planning to expand the smaller retail format of Kaya Skin Bar to metropolitan cities. Kaya Skin Bar, that occupies less than half the space of Kaya Skin Clinic, sells skincare products. Presently there are three such stores in Bangalore as compared to 83 Kaya Skin Clinics that offer technology-intensive cosmetic dermatological services. The company wants to become an end-to-end solution provider in the skincare business. Currently skincare products contribute only 20% to overall Kaya revenues with the balance coming from services. Earlier, Marico demerged its Kaya skincare division into a separate entity Marico Kaya Enterprises (MAKE) to consolidate its FMCG business in India and overseas. Kaya currently contributes 7% to Marico's consolidated sales. Marico's stock is currently trading marginally down.

Most of the Indian pharma stocks are trading in green, with Orchid chemicals and Indoco remedies being the leading gainers. As per the financial daily, Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) has rejected the review petition filed by Cadila healthcare. The company had filed petition challenging the price fixation done by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) in case of its eight formulations. Recently, the DoP had rejected the petition on the ground that it lacked any merit. Reportedly, Cadila challenged the ceiling price fixed on eight drugs viz; for folic acid tablet (5 mg), losartan potassium tablets (25 mg), losartan potassium tablets (50 mg), pantoprazol injection (40 mg), norethisterone tablets (5 mg), atenolol tablets (50 mg), atorvastatin tablets (10 mg), and omeprazole capsules (20 mg). It should be noted that several companies have filed similar litigations, challenging the new prices on various drugs. However, the department has rejected several such petitions. Cadila is trading up by 1.86%.