Novartis shares up nearly 2% at close

Surrendering most of early gains in-line with a weak stock market, shares of Novartis India ended nearly 2 per cent higher today, a day after fair trade regulator CCI approved a multi-billion dollar deal between global pharma giants GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Novartis.
Shares of Novartis India settled with a gain of 1.77 per cent at Rs 650.25 on the BSE. During the day, it rose by 5.48 per cent to Rs 674.
CCI approved a multi-billion dollar deal between global pharma giants GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Novartis as it did not find the transaction to be anti-competitive in India.
The multi-layered deal involves UK-based GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) acquiring the Swiss major's vaccine business while the latter would purchase GSK's cancer drugs portfolio.

In a order dated December 12 and made public yesterday, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) said it is of the opinion that the "the proposed combination is not likely to have appreciable adverse effect on competition in India."
Meanwhile, in the broader market the BSE benchmark Sensex ended at 27,208.61, down 297.85 points.