Sensex ends 37 points higher; earnings season in focus next

NDTV Profit Desk

26 Sep 2013, 05:08 PM IST

The BSE Sensex edged higher amid volatility caused due to the expiry of the September equity derivative contracts on Thursday, led by Sun Pharma, which rose to an all-time high on hopes of higher sales of a key cancer drug.

Financial shares gained after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Wednesday it would take action, including conducting open market operations, to ensure adequate liquidity is available in the banking system and acknowledged liquidity conditions had been tightening.

Traders say the markets may at best consolidate around the current levels as earnings reports, which are not expected to spring any positive surprises, would be in focus during October while the general elections would become the main focus in November.

"Focus would be on earnings but only very few players are going to report profit growth, so expect the market to remain dull and sideways for now" said Jyotheesh Kumar, executive vice president of HDFC Securities,

The BSE index rose 0.19 per cent, or 37.61 points, to end at 19,893.85.

The broader NSE index rose 0.14 per cent, or 8.40 points, to end at 5,882.25, taking support around its 200-day moving average for the third consecutive day.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd ended up 2.2 per cent after touching an all-time high of Rs 587 on expectations of higher sales of its key cancer drug, Doxil, after innovator Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc, a unit of Johnson & Johnson (J&J), said the drug will likely be in short supply in the coming weeks.

The expected shortage in supply is due to an interruption from the company's supplier, Ben Venue Laboratories Inc, J&J said.

Financial shares that benefited from RBI's assurance on liquidity included ICICI Bank Ltd which rose 1.2 per cent. Housing Development Finance Corp Ltd gained 1.7 per cent on value buying after recent losses.

Shares in Gillette India Ltd surged 10.5 per cent after India's market regulator allowed the company to re-classify one of its promoters as a public shareholder in order to become compliant with India's minimum public shareholding rules.

Indian software services exporter Wipro Ltd gained 0.6 per cent ahead of its inclusion in the NSE index effective Friday.

Reliance Infrastructure Ltd fell 1.5 per cent a day ahead of its exclusion from the NSE index.

JSW Steel Ltd fell 1.7 per cent after BNP Paribas downgraded the stock to 'reduce' from 'hold', citing expensive valuation after recent outperformance due to a delay in the US Federal Reserve's tapering of monetary stimulus in September.