Firmness prevailed on the bourses in early afternoon trade. At 12:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 182.66 points or 0.58% at 31,680.04. The Nifty 50 index was up 60.70 points or 0.62% at 9,920.20. Today's gains were led by index heavyweights Reliance Industries, ITC and HDFC. Stocks from auto and FMCG sectors rose. The key event is the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy meeting today, 4 October 2017.
Domestic stocks reversed initial gains and were trading with small losses in early trade. After an initial hiccup in early trade, stocks nudged higher and hit fresh intraday high in morning trade. Stocks held firm in mid-morning trade.
The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.61%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.88%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On the BSE, 1,491 shares rose and 912 shares fell. A total of 100 shares were unchanged.
Auto stocks rose. Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) (up 1.07%), Tata Motors (up 0.95%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.12%), Escorts (up 0.08%), Bajaj Auto (up 0.51%) and Hero MotoCorp (up 0.48%) rose. Eicher Motors (down 0.56%), Ashok Leyland (down 0.04%) and TVS Motor Company (down 0.16%) declined.
FMCG stocks rose. Dabur India (up 1.6%), Godrej Consumer Products (up 1.84%), Hindustan Unilever (up 1.1%), Marico (up 0.81%), Nestle India (up 0.35%), Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care (up 1.33%), Bajaj Corp (up 1.23%), Colgate-Palmolive (India) (up 0.68%) and Britannia Industries (up 0.11%) edged higher. Jyothy Laboratories (down 0.52%), Tata Global Beverages (down 0.51%) and GlaxoSmithkline Consumer Healthcare (down 0.23%) fell.
Natco Pharma hit an upper circuit limit of 20% at Rs 954.35 after the company's marketing partner Mylan received US drug regulator's approval for generic version of Copaxone. The announcement was made during trading hours today, 4 October 2017.
Natco Pharma announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) approved its marketing partner Mylan's Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDAs) for Glatiramer Acetate 40 mg/mL and 20 mg/mL injection, an AP-rated, substitutable generic version of Teva's Copaxone.
The drug is indicated for the treatment of patients with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system. The launch plans for both products will be communicated shortly after concurring with its partner Mylan.
Copaxone is the most prescribed MS treatment for relapsing forms of MS in the United States with brand sales for the 20 mg/mL dose of approximately $700 million and for the 40 mg/mL dose of approximately $3.64 billion for the 12 months ending 31 July 2017, according to Quintiles IMS. Approximately 400,000 individuals in the US have MS and relapsing MS accounts for 85% of initial MS diagnoses.
Mahanagar Gas rose 1.59% on reports the company has increased the basic price of CNG and domestic pipelined natural gas. According to reports, Mahanagar Gas (MGL) has upped the price of compressed natural gas (CNG) by Rs 0.95 per standard cubic meter and piped natural gas (PNG) by Rs 1.15 per kilogram from today, 4 October 2017. This will escalate the cost of CNG by Rs 42.63 per kg and PNG by Rs 25.69 per SCM. Earlier, the price of CNG was Rs 41.14 per kg and the cost of PNG was Rs 24.61 per SCM, reports added.
On the macro front, the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) bimonthly monetary policy decision is slated at 14:30 IST today, 4 October 2017. The central bank had cut policy repo rate by 25 basis points to 6% after its last monetary policy meeting in August, reducing the key policy rates for the first time in this fiscal year.
India's annual infrastructure output grew 4.9% in August compared with a revised 2.6% year-on-year growth in July, government data released after market hours yesterday, 3 October 2017 showed. Eight infrastructure sectors include coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, electricity, steel, cement, and fertiliser, comprising 40.27% weight in index of industrial production.
Overseas, Japanese and Hong Kong share markets led Asian stocks higher in holiday-thinned trading as investors took their lead from Wall Street's latest advance into record territory. Stock markets were closed in mainland China, South Korea and Taiwan for holidays. In US, the three major stock indices on Wall Street closed at record highs yesterday, 3 October 2017 driven by expectations of strong global growth.
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