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Benchmark indices have firmed up in late trades led by gains in pharma shares which rallied on the back of impressive second quarter earnings from Lupin and Ranbaxy. Further, financial shares also helped keep up the momentum.
At 2:30 PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 111 points at 26,864 and the 50-share Nifty was up 32 points at 8,024.
In the broader market, BSE Mid cap Index is flat while BSE Small cap has gained around 0.6%.
Market breadth is marginally positive with 1,365 advances against 1,309 declines.
The rupee is trading at 61.39 per US Dollar against previous close of 61.30. Traders said the euro holding up against the dollar is supporting the rupee.
Global Markets
Asian markets continue to trade mixed with Japanese stocks falling further to around 0.4% after dismal results from Canon Inc. raised concerns about corporate earnings. Nikkei has lost around 0.4%. On the other hand, China and Hong Kong shares rebounded on Tuesday on hopes of more reforms in the state-owned enterprises fuelled particularly by reports about a possible merger between China’s top train makers, China CNR and CSR Corporation in order to create a global entity. Hang Seng has gained around 1.6% while Shanghai Composite has advanced more than 2%.
European stocks have opened higher as better-than-expected results from a number of blue-chips including Novartis and UBS helped lift sentiment. FTSE and CAC 40 indices have gained around 0.5% while DAX index has gained more than 1%
Sectors and Stocks
BSE Health Care index has gained most advancing around 1.6% while BSE Bankex and Consumer Durables indices have gained 0.6-0.8% each. FMCG and Oil & Gas indices are among the losers.
Among pharma stocks, Sun Pharma has gained around 5% after Ranbaxy and Lupin announced their second quarter results which are better than market estimates. Ranbaxy Laboratories has gained around by 6% after reporting better-than-expected consolidated net profit of Rs 478 crore for the quarter ended September 2014 (Q2), on back of strong operational performance. The drug maker had a loss of Rs 454 crore in a year ago quarter. Sun Pharma is also seen to be benefitting from the price rises announced by its subsidiary, Taro in the US market.
Gaining on strong performance by its peers, Cipla has also surged around 2.37% however Dr Reddys Lab has lost around 1% as analysts feel Dr Reddy’s net profit could be affected due to the 12% depreciation in the rouble against the rupee, as Russia contributes about 20 per cent to its revenues, as well as a higher estimate of research & development (R&D) costs.
Lupin has lost around 1.7% despite reporting a 54% jump in July-September quarter of the 2015 fiscal at Rs 630.40 crore compaed to the same quarter last fiscal when the profit was around Rs 406.20 crore helped by robust sales in its domestic business and the United States, its largest market.
Financials are among the top Sensex gainers led by ICICI Bank gaining more than2% followed by HDFC, SBI and Axis Bank. SBI has gained around 1.7% while its other three listed associate banks - State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Travancore and State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur – have also rallied on the bourses after State Bank of Mysore reported robust results for the second quarter ended September 2014.
L&T extended gains and is up 1.1% after the Gujarat government issued work order of Rs 2,979 crore to the company on Monday to construct the Statue of Unity, the world’s tallest statue.
FMCG major HUL extended losses and was down over 1% on worries over volume growth and after several brokerages reduced their target price post the second quarter earnings. Net profit was up 8% at Rs 988 crore for the quarter ended September compared to Rs 914 crore in the same quarter last year. Volume growth was lower at 5% compared to 6% in the previous quarter.
Select auto stocks continue to witness profit taking after gains last week post robust festive sales. Hero MotoCorp has lost more than 2% while , Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj Auto are down around 0.7% each. However, Tata Motors has rebounded from its correction in the previous session and is up around 1.7%.
Oil shares are among the top losers. ONGC has lost around 0.4% as further decline in crude prices is expected to erode the profitability of companies involved in exploration. Reliance has lost around 0.8%. Meanwhile, Reliance has ruled out any production outage on account of cyclone ‘Nilofar’ which is likely to make landfall on the northern Gujarat coast on Saturday. The company operates the world’s largest refining complex in the state of Gujarat.
Coal India has pared losses and is up around 0.1%. It’s shares had declined on reports that The Competition Commission of India (CCI ) has asked the company to desist from indulging in anti-competitive practices by abusing its dominant position. The CCI passed this judgment in two different cases relating to the e-auction scheme and fuel supply agreements which were filed last year.
Engineering major BHEL which had surged nearly 5% in the previous session witnessed profit taking and is down 1.3%.
Among other stocks, State Bank of Mysore has rallied 12% after reporting a more than three-fold jump in net profit at Rs 102 in the July-September quarter (Q2) on higher interest income, lower provisions and better recovery from written-off accounts. The state-owned bank had profit of Rs 30 crore in the corresponding year-ago quarter.
Shares of construction and engineering company NCC has around soared 12% on back of heavy volumes.
Shares of Styrosolution ABS were up around 4% after Reliance Mutual Fund acquired over 100,000 shares of the company from the open market.
Astral Poly Technik has dipped around 6% after reporting nearly 400 bps decline in operating profit margin at 12% during the quarter ended September 2014 (Q2), due to higher raw material and employee cost.
