Indian bourses continue to trade in positive territory

Indian equity benchmarks continued their trade in green in afternoon session, on the back of buying by funds and retail investors and tracking strong global cues. Sentiments remained optimistic with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyals’ statement that the government will not allow foreign companies to operate in multi-brand segment and necessary action will be taken against people indulging in predatory pricing. Traders overlooked DBS Bank revising India's GDP growth for fiscal year 2020 downwards to 6.8 per cent year-on-year (YoY) from 7 per cent projected earlier, citing headwinds for exports amidst challenging trade outlook. On the sectoral front, Tech stocks declined on reports that the United States was considering caps on H-1B work visas for nations that force foreign companies to store data locally. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after the U.S. Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged overnight but opened the door to rate cuts on the horizon.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39277.74, up by 165.00 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 38933.78 and 39306.63. There were 23 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.60%, while Small cap index was up by 0.32%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.55%, Healthcare up by 1.31%, Telecom up by 1.16%, Metal up by 0.99% and Auto was up by 0.84%, while IT down by 0.48%, FMCG down by 0.35% and TECK was down by 0.25% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 5.23%, Sun Pharma up by 3.21%, Indusind Bank up by 3.04%, Vedanta up by 1.96% and Bajaj Auto was up by 1.57%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 1.20%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.83%, ITC down by 0.50%, Infosys down by 0.36% and TCS was down by 0.31% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) has said that the pharmaceutical sector in the country is aiming to grow to the size of $120-130 billion by the year 2030 from the existing $38 billion. To achieve the goal, it said that the stakeholders need to work on accelerating the goal of universal healthcare across India and the world by providing access to high-quality affordable drugs. It added that the stakeholders also need to work on becoming the world’s largest and most reliable high drugs supplier.

IPA has stated that the Indian pharmaceutical industry is entering its next phase of growth. Therefore, it said that at this critical stage, there is a need for stronger collaboration between pharma companies, the government and regulatory agencies. It believed that concerted efforts by the pharmaceutical companies and the government's intervention in the form of enabling policies and a supportive ecosystem can help the industry achieve Vision 2030.

Industry body further said that the government can be a key enabler to achieve this, through strategic interventions such as increasing expenditure on healthcare from about 1 percent to 2.5 percent by 2025 and to 5 percent of GDP by 2030, in line with the other developed economies in Europe and North America. It should also encourage investments by ensuring a stable pricing policy and supportive regulatory environment. It noted that the government can also intervene by focusing on active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing to reduce the reliance on imports through plug-and-play infrastructural support in dedicated zones.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11738.25, up by 46.80 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 11635.05 and 11745.95. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 5.67%, Yes Bank up by 5.18%, Sun Pharma up by 3.25%, Indusind Bank up by 3.16% and Grasim Industries was up by 2.27%. On the flip side, UPL down by 10.00%, Wipro down by 2.64%, Adani Ports &SEZ down by 1.95%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.79% and Axis Bank was down by 1.17% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Hang Seng increased 276.86 points or 0.98% to 28,479.00, Nikkei 225 surged 128.99 points or 0.6% to 21,462.86, Shanghai Composite gained 66.18 points or 2.27% to 2,983.98, Straits Times advanced 25.39 points or 0.77% to 3,313.56, KOSPI rose 6.51 points or 0.31% to 2,131.29 and Taiwan Weighted strengthened 9.67 points or 0.09% to 10,785.01.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite lost 1.52 points or 0.02% to 6,337.74.