Markets trade slightly in green in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets traded near neutral lines with positive bias in late afternoon session. Traders were seen piling up positions in Capital Goods, Energy and Telecom sectors, while selling was witnessed in Bankex, Consumer Durables and Realty sectors’ stocks. Traders took some support, after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said Retail inflation is likely to ease to around 5 per cent next fiscal on the back of government measures to ease supplies, reduction in fuel prices as well as prospects of good crops. For the current fiscal year to be ending on March 31, 2022, retail inflation is expected to be around 5.3 per cent. Sector wise, pharmaceutical sector remained in focus, as credit rating agency, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report has showed the 6.6% yoy revenue growth in India’s pharmaceutical market (IPM) during November 2021, led by improving growth trends in chronic therapies, namely cardiac 6% yoy (October 2021: down 1% yoy) and anti-diabetic 6% yoy (October 2021: up 1% yoy).

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green amid investors waited for US inflation data that might influence the Federal Reserve's decision on when to roll back economic stimulus. European markets were trading higher as traders bet the global recovery will be resilient to the new virus strain that is spreading around the world.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58675.90, up by 26.22 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 58340.85 and 58889.96. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.27%, while Small cap index was up by 0.74%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.68%, Energy up by 1.33%, Telecom up by 1.31%, FMCG up by 1.15% and Industrials was up by 0.89%, while Bankex down by 0.47%, Consumer Durables down by 0.47%, Realty down by 0.31%, IT down by 0.18%, PSU down by 0.07% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 4.13%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.93%, Asian Paints up by 1.85%, Reliance Industries up by 1.57% and Bajaj Finance up by 0.78%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 1.72%, Titan Company down by 1.67%, Nestle down by 1.42%, HCL Tech down by 1.05% and TCS down by 0.84% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, credit rating agency, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report has showed the 6.6% yoy revenue growth in India’s pharmaceutical market (IPM) during November 2021, led by improving growth trends in chronic therapies, namely cardiac 6% yoy (October 2021: down 1% yoy) and anti-diabetic 6% yoy (October 2021: up 1% yoy ).

The report further noted that acute therapies namely gastro-intestinal, respiratory and pain/analgesics continued to witness strong growth, aided by the low base impact. During November 2021, volumes were flat yoy (October 2021: declined 1.6% yoy), while price growth was 5.4% (5.3%) and new products launches were 1.2% (1.4%), driven by acute therapy products.

According to the report, acute therapies such as gastro, respiratory and pain/analgesics witnessed sales growth of 13.1% yoy, 16.3% yoy and 17.3% yoy respectively. Growth improvement was observed in chronic therapies during the month, with cardiac growing 6.3% yoy and anti-diabetic reporting 6.0% yoy growth.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17477.70, up by 7.95 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 17379.60 and 17543.25. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ITC up by 4.20%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.80%, Asian Paints up by 1.95%, Reliance Industries up by 1.58% and Coal India up by 1.42%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 1.85%, Titan Company down by 1.74%, Nestle down by 1.40%, HCL Tech down by 1.07% and TCS down by 0.91% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Hang Seng increased 257.99 points or 1.08% to 24,254.86, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 81.70 points or 0.46% to 17,914.12, Jakarta Composite soared 40.13 points or 0.61% to 6,643.93, Shanghai Composite gained 35.47 points or 0.98% to 3,673.04, KOSPI rose 27.77 points or 0.93% to 3,029.57 and Straits Times was up by 10.67 points or 0.34% to 3,140.44. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was down by 135.15 points or 0.47% to 28,725.47.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 16.33 points or 0.22% to 7,353.38, France’s CAC increased 26.47 points or 0.38% to 7,041.04 and Germany’s DAX  was up by 30.69 points or 0.2% to 15,717.78.