Indian share markets continued to trade weak in the post-noon trading session. Majority of the sectoral indices are trading in the red with engineering and auto stocks being the biggest losers. However, realty and pharma are among the few stocks trading strong today.
BSE-Sensex is down 61 points and NSE-Nifty is trading 11 points down. BSE Mid Cap is trading 0.4% up while BSE Small Cap index is trading down marginally. The rupee is trading at 61.53 to the US dollar.
FMCG stocks are trading mixed with Colgate and Marico among the major gainers whereas Lakshmi Energy and Bata India are the biggest losers. As per a leading financial daily, Colgate has declared its results for the quarter ended September 2014. The company posted a 11% YoY topline growth on a 7% volume growth in toothpastes during the quarter. Its volume market share in the toothpaste category for the period January-September 2014 increased by 0.8% YoY to 56.7%. Even its operating margin expanded by 2.4% YoY to 18.6% backed by lower input costs and ad-spends (both as a proportion of sales). However at the net level, the margin expended by a mere 0.8% YoY on account of a steep 52% jump in depreciation and lower other income earned for the quarter. Colgate stock is currently trading up 2.96%.
Most of the domestic pharma companies are trading strong led by Cadial Healthcare and Glenmark Pharma. According to a leading financial daily, Dr Reddy's Laboratories (DRL) has won final approval from US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to make cheaper copies of Roche Holdings AG's anti viral drug Valcyte. Earlier Ranbaxy Laboratories lost out its tentative approval for the six-month exclusivity for the generic drug on account of quality issues at its manufacturing plants. Ranbaxy's domestic manufacturing plants have been banned by USFDA from exporting to the US. DRL stock is up 3% and Ranbaxy stock is up 0.7%.
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