Broader market outperforms; pharma shares in demand

The headline equity benchmarks continued to trade with minor cuts in morning trade. The Nifty traded below the 25,000 level after hitting the day's high of 25,043.65 in morning trade. Pharma shares extended gains for the second consecutive trading session.

At 10:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 31.70 points or 0.04% to 81,659.50. The Nifty 50 index lost 14.30 points or 0.06% to 24,996.30.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.27% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.43%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,122 shares rose and 1,488 shares fell. A total of 151 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Pharma index gained 0.80% to 22,735.05. The index added 0.91% in two consecutive trading sessions.

Alkem Laboratories (up 2.33%), Laurus Labs (up 2.14%), J B Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals (up 2.09%), Gland Pharma (up 1.97%), Mankind Pharma (up 1.91%), Lupin (up 1.7%), Cipla (up 1.45%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (up 0.99%), Sanofi India (up 0.99%) and Zydus Lifesciences (up 0.93%) rallied.

On the other hand, Granules India (down 0.7%), Natco Pharma (down 0.22%) and Divis Laboratories (down 0.11%) edged lower.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Medi Assist Healthcare Services surged 8.43% after the firm's subsidiary, Medi Assist Insurance TPA has entered into share purchase agreement for 100% acquisition of Paramount Health Services & Insurance TPA (Paramount TPA).

JSW Energy added 1.22% after the company's wholly owned subsidiary JSW Neo Energy has received letter of award (LoA) for setting up a wind-solar hybrid power project from Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSEDCL).