Benchmarks continue to trade in green in late morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in late morning deals, led by gains in IT, Utilities and Realty stocks. Sentiments remained positive with the United Nations stating that India registered strong investment performance in 2023, driven by government infrastructure projects and multinational investments. It noted that India is benefiting from growing interest from multinationals, which see the country as a key alternative manufacturing base in the context of developed economies' supply chain diversification strategies. Some support also came with Joint Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Sanjiv’s statement that the government will issue 65 quality control orders (QCOs) covering over 500 products to contain imports of sub-standard goods and boost domestic manufacturing. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed as resilient labor market data from the U.S. dampened expectations of multiple interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 72055.25, up by 207.68 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 71996.98 and 72156.48. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.38%, while Small cap index was up by 0.75%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.03%, Utilities up by 0.99%, Realty up by 0.98%, Capital Goods up by 0.98% and TECK up by 0.92%, while Healthcare down by 0.46% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 1.43%, TCS up by 1.13%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.06%, Infosys up by 1.04% and SBI up by 0.96%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.57%, Nestle down by 1.03%, Indusind Bank down by 0.71%, HDFC Bank down by 0.52% and Asian Paints down by 0.47% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the rating agency -- Icra has said that revenue of 25 leading domestic pharmaceutical companies is expected to grow 9-11 per cent in the current fiscal year (FY24). The projected revenue growth in 2023-24 will be primarily supported by 11-13 per cent expansion in the US market and 7-9 per cent growth in the domestic market, while revenues from the European market and emerging markets are expected to rise 11-13 per cent and 13-15 per cent, respectively.

Icra expects the revenues of a sample set of 25 Indian pharmaceutical companies (which account for 60 per cent of the overall revenues of the Indian pharmaceutical industry) to expand by 9-11 per cent in FY24, post a year-on-year growth of 10 per cent in FY23. Icra said it foresees research and development expenses for its sample set of companies to stabilise at 6.5-7 per cent of their revenues as they will optimise spending, focusing more on complex molecules and specialty products against plain vanilla generics. The US has always been a key market for most leading Indian pharmaceutical companies, accounting for a sizeable share of their revenues.

However, it stated the share of revenues from the US market for Icra's sample set of companies declined to 35 per cent in FY22 as compared with 40 per cent in FY20, owing to consistent pricing pressure, lack of major blockbuster products going off-patent and increased regulatory scrutiny in recent years. Nonetheless, with the easing of pricing pressure, significant new launches, and shortages of some products, the same increased to 37 per cent in FY23 and 38 per cent in the first half of FY24.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 21705.40, up by 46.80 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 21698.20 and 21749.60. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports &Special up by 1.65%, SBI Life Insurance up by 1.37%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.37%, TCS up by 1.11% and LTIMindtree up by 1.10%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.68%, Nestle down by 1.61%, Britannia Industries down by 1.47%, Divi's Lab down by 1.23% and Cipla down by 1.18% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Taiwan Weighted lost 33.74 points or 0.19% to 17,515.91, Hang Seng declined 35.72 points or 0.21% to 16,610.26, KOSPI dropped 10.14 points or 0.39% to 2,576.88 and Shanghai Composite weakened 6.57 points or 0.22% to 2,947.78. On the global front, Jakarta Composite gained 17.74 points or 0.24% to 7,377.50 , Straits Times rose 16.16 points or 0.51% to 3,190.17 and Nikkei 225 surged 170.66 points or 0.51% to 33,458.95.