Sensex Sheds 145 Points; Pharma Stocks Slide Further

Indian share markets witnessed selling pressure in the final hour of trade to finish well below the dotted line. At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex closed lower by 145 points, whereas the NSE Nifty finished lower by 46 points. The S&P BSE Midcap and the S&P BSE Small Cap ended down by 1.4% & 1.2% respectively. Losses were largely seen in realty sector, power sector and healthcare sector.

Tata motors share price finished up by 2.7% after the company reported 1.93% increase in total sales in February at 47,573 units compared to 46,674 in the same month last year.

Meanwhile, Wockhardt share price plunged 5% after it was reported that the company's US business has suffered another jolt with the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) issuing a warning letter to the company's Morton Grove manufacturing plant facility in Illinois. Also, Cadila Healthcare share price fell by 1.8% after the company said USFDA issued three observations after inspecting the company's facility at Baddi.

Telecom stocks ended the day on a weak note with Reliance Communications and Idea Cellular leading the losses. As per an article in The Financial Express, Bharti Airtel and Nokia will expand their collaborative technology partnership to work on 5G technology standard and management of connected  devices.

Going ahead, whether Bharti Airtel's strategy towards 5G and an entry into IoT space prove to be a turning point and improve its revenue streams will be the key thing to watch out for.
Bharti Airtel share price ended the day down by 1.8%.

Moving on to the news from stocks in banking sector. According to a report in a leading financial daily, IDBI Bank has acquired its 323 million shares from Jaiprakash Power Ventures under the strategic debt restructuring scheme by its lenders.

IDBI Bank share price ended the day down by 3%.

Asian equity markets finished mixed as of the most recent closing prices. The Nikkei 225 gained 0.88%, while the Shanghai Composite led the Hang Seng lower. They fell 0.52% and 0.20% respectively.

The rupee was trading at Rs 66.74 against the US$ in the afternoon session. Oil prices were trading at US$ 53.39 at the time of writing.

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