No respite for the markets, benchmarks trade lower by around 2%

The Indian markets bracing for a probable Greece debt default and following global equity markets trend were reeling deep in red in early noon session. There was no sign of any recovery and the benchmarks continue to trade lower by about two percent after weekend talks between the Greece and its creditors failed to arrive at any solution. Greece closed its banks and imposed capital controls on Sunday to check the growing strains on its crippled financial system. There was across the board selling with the jittery investors shunning mostly the realty, banking and automobile stocks, while others too were displaying weak trend. The broader markets were witnessing even deeper cuts. Pharma and healthcare stocks too were on sellers’ radar despite the government planning to set up Rs 500 crore venture capital fund to boost domestic pharma industry and provide cheaper loans to entities looking to establish or upgrade manufacturing facilities. Meanwhile, the infra stocks too were under pressure, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling a meeting to review the status of highway projects on July 2. The weakness in rupee too has been weighing on the sentiments, the domestic currency has extended losses for the fifth consecutive day on heavy dollar demand.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27288.01, down by 523.83 points or 1.88% after trading in a range of 27209.19 and 27451.07. There was just 1 stock advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices too were deeply in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 2.38%, while Small cap index plunged by 2.43%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty down by 2.77%, Consumer Durables down by 2.64%, Bankex down by 2.58%, INFRA down by 2.50%, Metal down by 2.49%.

The lone gainer on the Sensex was Lupin up by 0.11%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 4.57%, SBI down by 3.28%, HDFC Bank down by 3.01%, Tata Motors down by 2.93% and Sun Pharma Inds. down by 2.87% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government, as per the suggestion made by a task force formed by the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) is planning to set up Rs 500 crore venture capital (VC) fund to boost domestic pharma industry and provide cheaper loans to entities looking to establish or upgrade manufacturing facilities.

The task force submitted its report to Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ananth Kumar, who has said that this is in line with the government's agenda of promoting ‘Make in India’ and the Ministry will take action on all the steps suggested by the task force. Adding that the government is working on various proposals, including single window clearance for drug approvals, to rejuvenate the local pharma sector and make medicines more affordable. The minister said that government will set up a committee chaired by Pharmaceuticals Secretary to suggest a mechanism for single-window clearance for the pharmaceuticals industry.

The panel in the report titled 'Recommendations of the Task Force on Enabling Private Sector to lead the growth of Pharmaceutical Industry', has said DoP may come up with a pharmaceutical specific venture fund, for channelising public resources into drug design and discovery. It has also said that said the DoP may also come up with seed capital and facilitate funding with other financial institutions for the medium and small scale pharmaceuticals industry.

In the report, the task force has also suggested that DoP may launch a scheme for giving financial assistance in form of soft loan or interest subsidy for upgradation of selected manufacturing facilities to the industry. The soft loan and interest subsidy will help the industry to compete in the highly regulated markets of US, Europe, Australia and the UK.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8215.35, down by 165.75 points or 1.98% after trading in a range of 8195.65 and 8248.05. There was 1 stock advancing against 49 stocks declining on the index.

The lone gainer on Nifty was BPCL up by 1.06%, while Tech Mahindra down by 6.32%, Hindalco down by 4.66%, HCL Tech. down by 3.63%, SBI down by 3.28% and Sun Pharma Inds down by 3.05% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading all in red, Hang Seng slumped by 637.96 points or 2.39% to 26,025.91, Nikkei 225 lost 596.2 points or 2.88% to 20,109.95, Taiwan Weighted declined by 226.47 points or 2.39% to 9,236.10, Jakarta Composite was down by 57.04 points or 1.16% to 4,865.96, Straits Times was lower by 45.29 points or 1.36% to 3,275.61, Shanghai Composite was down by 35.97 points or 0.86% to 4,156.90, KOSPI Index declined by 29.77 points or 1.42% to 2,060.49 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was lower by17.7 points or 1.03% to 1,692.77.