Markets trade flat with positive bias

Indian equity benchmarks erased initial losses and were now trading flat with positive bias in morning deals, tracking mixed cues from global peers. Traders took some support with private report stated that hiring activity witnessed an overall 4 per cent sequential growth in July and the uptick was mainly spread across metros. It said compared to June, July 2021 saw a notable overall monthly growth of 4 per cent in hiring across all metros. However, gains remain capped as India recorded a spike of 44,558 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours out of which, over 31,000 were from Kerala. Meanwhile, Markets regulator Sebi came out with detailed modalities for implementation of the accredited investors framework, a move expected to open up a new channel of raising funds from sophisticated investors. Sectorally, stocks related to pharma industry remained in focus as Care Ratings in its latest report has said that the COVID-19 pandemic push will lead to an 11 percent annual growth for the pharma sector over the next two years and help it surpass $60 billion from around $45 billion in FY21. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as investors globally turned cautious ahead of a long-awaited speech by Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Remarks from the Federal Reserve's more hawkish policy makers and a deadly attack in Afghanistan also subdued sentiment.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 55961.54, up by 12.44 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 55675.87 and 55982.47. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.32%, while Small cap index was up by 0.52%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.52%, Capital Goods up by 1.47%, Basic Materials up by 1.27%, Realty up by 1.13% and Telecom up by 1.06%, while IT down by 0.20%, Power down by 0.14%, Oil & Gas down by 0.13%, TECK down by 0.09% and Bankex down by 0.07% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 2.72%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.89%, Sun Pharma up by 1.60%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.22% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.07%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 0.99%, HDFC down by 0.97%, Indusind Bank down by 0.77%, ICICI Bank down by 0.74% and Titan Company down by 0.66% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Care Ratings in its latest report has said that the COVID-19 pandemic push will lead to an 11 percent annual growth for the pharma sector over the next two years and help it surpass $60 billion from around $45 billion in FY21. It expects this faster growth to be driven by the ability of the domestic industry to leverage the opportunities arising from the expiry of the many patented drugs across the globe, ebbing of regulatory risks, adoption of various de-risk strategies from China dependency for key raw materials, increasing PE investments, and strong fundamentals of the industry.

The report has stated that the domestic pharma industry globally ranks third in terms of volume and 13th in value terms, which is primarily because of the predominance of generics. It said the industry has been clipping at a compound annual rate of about 7.2 per cent between FY17 and FY21. In the past fiscal, the industry clipped at 12 per cent, thanks to the pandemic-related demand.

As per the report, over the next five years, the patented drugs worth $240 billion will go off-patents globally. This provides a large opportunity for domestic generic formulation companies who are already developing the generic versions of these patented drugs to cash in on early and are expected to reap $5-6 billion of additional income. It added that the focus on generics has the domestic country enjoying significant cost advantages in terms of production, R&D and clinical trials over the developed market to the tune of 50, 87 and 90 per cent, respectively.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16651.55, up by 14.65 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 16565.60 and 16655.90. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 2.83%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.71%, SBI Life Insurance up by 1.90%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.89% and Sun Pharma up by 1.59%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.07%, HDFC down by 1.02%, Indusind Bank down by 0.81%, ICICI Bank down by 0.79% and Eicher Motors down by 0.68% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; KOSPI fell 0.03 points or 3116.29% to 0.86, Jakarta Composite lost 0.42 points or 6052.83% to 25.25, Nikkei 225 slipped 0.46 points or 27581.24% to 127.36 and Straits Times trembled 0.81 points or 3089.91% to 25.13. On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 0.77 points or 17061.1% to 131.55, Hang Seng increased 0.51 points or 25337.55% to 130.68 and Shanghai Composite gained 0.49 points or 3494.42% to 17.17.