Nifty Pharma joins bear markets, index sheds near 1%; Dr Reddy's, Lupin, Glenmark, Gland Pharma weigh down

21 Jan 2022 , 10:40 AM

Pharma stocks extended losses during Friday’s morning trade with major stocks such as Divis Lab, Dr Reddys, Lupin, Gland Pharma emerging as biggest underperformers amid Omicron worries. Pharma stocks are in hot bed zone where the covid situation has taken an ugly turn due to Omicron virus which led to increase in global cautiousness. Investors are bidding cautiously in pharma stocks as the market involves risk sentiments amid global cues.

In last 24 hours, India recorded 3.47 lakh new Covid cases, 9% more than yesterday. Similarly, the overall count of the highly infectious Omicron variant reached 9,692 with 29 states reporting cases of the new strain.

The performance also comes after the major pharma industries like Natco Pharma, SMS Pharmaceuticals and Strides Pharma inks pact to commercialize Molnupiravir in the domestic and international markets as well. 

At around 10:40 AM, Nifty Pharma performs at 13,358.45 down by 96.45 points or 0.72%. The index has touched an intraday high of 13,417.60 and intraday low of 13,214.85 on Friday.

Divis Lab was the top underperformer of Nifty Pharma slipping by 2.07% followed by Dr Reddy’s diving around 2%.

Stocks like Lupin, Gland Pharma, Glenmark recorded 1% drop each where Strides Pharma, Natco Pharma plunged by nearly 1% each.

Cipla, Alembic Pharma, Alkem, Cadila dropped between 0.5%-0.8% each to drag the overall sector in the red. Sun Pharma and Pfizer were also trading marginally down dragging the sector.

However, Torrent Pharma, IPCA Lab were trading flat but in the green to support the index. Further, Aurobindo Pharma and Abbott India contributed marginal gains to the sector while Laurus Labs and Biocon were trading 1.33% and 1.62% higher respectively.

In the sector, Gland Pharma set to announce its financial performance for Q3 today while Cipla is set to present its Q3 earnings on January 25 and Dr Reddy’s Lab is scheduled on January 28, 2022.