Positive close for Indian indices

Wed, 19 Dec Closing

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   Pre-Open   

   09:30 am   

   11:30 am   

   01:30 pm   

Indian equity markets traded in the green throughout the trading session today albeit within a range. The indices began the day's proceedings into the positive and maintained this momentum in the final trading hour as well. While the Sensex today closed higher by 111 points, the NSE-Nifty today closed higher by 33 points. The BSE Mid Cap and the BSE Small Cap also did well and closed higher by 0.5% and 0.4% respectively. Gains were largely seen in auto, healthcare and IT stocks.

As regards global markets, most Asian indices closed firm today while European indices have also opened in the green. The rupee was trading at Rs 54.57 to the dollar at the time of writing.

Auto ancillaries stocks closed mixed today. While Bosch Ltd and Bharat Forge closed in the red, Exide Industries closed firm. As per a leading business daily, Tube Investments of India Ltd (TII) has picked up an additional stake of 22.87% in its French subsidiary Financiere C10 SAS. With this, Financiere C10 becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of TII. Financiere C10 is the holding company of Sedis SAS and Societe de Commercialisation de Composants Industriels, both in France, and Sedis Company Ltd in the UK. It must be noted that in 2010, TII had obtained controlling stake in Sedis Group through the acquisition of 77% equity in Financiere C10. Sedis is a manufacturer of industrial and engineering class chains in France. The acquisition was part of TII's strategy to diversify into non-auto segments. This is because depending entirely on the auto industry makes TII subservient to the fortunes of that sector. The stock closed lower today.

As per a leading business daily, Aurobindo Pharma has received final approval from the US FDA to manufacture and market 'Abacavir' tablets USP in the strength of 300 mg. This drug is the generic equivalent of ViiV Healthcare Company's 'Ziagen' tablets 300 mg. It is indicated as part of the antiretroviral (ARV) combination therapy for the treatment of HIV infected adults and children. The annual sale of the product has been pegged at approximately US$ 88 m. The product has been approved out of Unit III formulations facility in Hyderabad. Aurobindo now has a total of 167 ANDA approvals from the US FDA. It must be noted that both the formulations and API businesses of the company performed well in 2QFY13 with revenues growing by 53% YoY and 27% YoY respectively. In formulations, the ARV business reported a robust growth of 37% YoY during the quarter. The stock closed lower today.