The Indian equity markets have made a dismal start following weakness in global indices. But, selective buying by funds and investors in stocks available at attractive levels helped the Sensex to turn positive. On global front, the US markets snapped the first day of the final quarter on a dismal note with major indices losing 2-3 percent for the day while all the Asian counterparts were trading in the negative terrain at this point of time. Back home, on the sectoral front consumer durables witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by capital goods and realty while, oil and gas, technology and software remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks. Meanwhile, PSU oil marketing companies viz., BPCL, HPCL and IOC were trading remain in jubilant mood as the global crude prices has declined further on heightened concerns about euro-zone debt problems and the possibility of a default by Greece that pressured oil and supported the dollar. However, Prakash Constrowell, the new listing today, were trading with a cut of about 9 percent after a decent start. The market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 827 shares on the gaining side against 621 shares on the losing side while 67 shares remained unchanged.
The BSE Sensex opened at 16,081.77; about 70 points lower compared to its previous closing of 16,151.45, and has touched a high and a low of 16,158.96 and 16,051.68 respectively.
The index is currently trading at 16,158.61, up by 7.16 points or 0.04%. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 declines on the index.
The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 54.59% stocks advancing against 40.99% declines. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices rose 0.53% and 0.25% respectively.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, CD up by 1.33%, CG up by 1.32%, Realty up by 0.91%, Metal up by 0.85% and Power was up by 0.45%. While, Oil and Gas down by 0.33%, TECk down by 0.09% and IT down by 0.07% were the only losers on the index.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Jaiprakash Associates up by 2.85%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.12%, Tata Steel up by 1.68%, L&T up by 1.49% and Hero Motocorp was up by 1.47%.
On the flip side, Tata Motors was down by 3.15%, HDFC Bank was down by 1.08%, Coal India was down by 0.86%, HDFC was down by 0.82% and Tata Power was down by 0.77% were the top losers on the Sensex.
Meanwhile, The drug price supervisory body - National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) is likely to get powers to verify landed cost of drugs that are under its control. The government is mulling alterations to the drug pricing law to permit the NPPA to look for details of landed cost of medicines. Landed price refers to the cost of medicines when they reach Indian shores and the regulator fixes the price of these drugs on the basis of this.
The NPPA had approached the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) requesting it to take up the issue with other ministries. Under current laws, the NPPA cannot fix prices of patented drugs and most imported medicines used for treatment of illnesses such as cancer. The scope of price regulation is further restricted because the Drug Pricing Control Order (DPCO) allows the regulator to only keep an eye on drugs made by using any of 74 named ingredients. About half of these ingredients are no longer being used.
It is reported that above 1,000 imported formulations are sold in India. A revision of the drug pricing laws will go a long way in reducing prices and bringing them within the reach of the poor. According to the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, current laws are tilted in favour of multinational firms as only domestic drug-makers are required to give details of how they have arrived at the cost of production.
As per government officials, changes and amendments are required to make drug price regulation more effective. The move is not to give draconian power to the watchdog or hamper the industry's growth but to make prices of drugs affordable and encourage indigenous production of medicines. However, experts from the industry feel that NPPA’s move would not be very useful, as several imported medicines fall outside the sphere of the control mechanism.
The drug price regulator had earlier this year tried to check details of landed cost when an American company sought a sudden ‘sharp increase’ in cost of production of its brand. But its move was shot down by a court after the Law Ministry approved that the NPPA did not have the authority. In 2005, India implemented a new patents regime, which gives 20 years of exclusive marketing rights to patent holders. To alleviate loss of revenue in their home markets, global drug-makers have launched a slew of their original drugs in India, mostly imported. Most of these drugs are expensive and beyond the reach of the masses.
The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 4,823.50; about 26 points lower compared to its previous closing of 4,849.50, and has touched a high and a low of 4,852.20 and 4,822.45 respectively.
The index is currently trading at 4,852.20, higher by 2.70 points or 0.06%. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 declines on the index.
The top gainers of the Nifty were Jaiprakash Associates up by 3.06%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.07%, Tata Steel up by 1.77%, DLF up by 1.69% and Reliance Capital up by 1.62%.
On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 3.19%, Cairn down by 1.39%, Gail down by 1.18%, HCL Tech down by 0.91% and Ambuja Cement down by 0.84%, were the major losers on the index.
All the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Hang Seng was down 268.12 points or 1.59% to 16,554.03, Jakarta Composite was down 51.21 points or 1.53% to 3,297.50, KLSE Composite was down 4.01 points or 0.29% to 1,363.51, Nikkei 225 was down 135.79 points or 1.59% to 8,409.69, Straits Times was down 51.50 points or 1.96% to 2,569.90, Seoul Composite was down 93.26 points or 5.27% to 1,676.39 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 29.91 points or 0.43% to 6,984.06.
