D-Street Buzz: Nifty Pharma outperforms led by Cipla, Lupin; ICICI Bank, Kotak Bank drag

COVID-19 continues to create havoc globally with stock markets continuing to remain under pressure. Sensex is down 453.93 points or 1.61 percent at 27811.38, and the Nifty shed 123.50 points or 1.5 percent at 8130.30.

All sectoral indices barring the pharma index are trading in the red. Banks along with the metal index fell the most down 3 percent each.

Bank Nifty was down over 3 percent dragged by RBL Bank which tanked over 9 percent followed by ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, State Bank of India, Bandhan Bank and Axis Bank.

Emkay Global Financial Services is of the view that Kotak Mahindra Bank has built a reasonably strong deposit franchisee, with its CASA at an industry high of 54%. The deposit base remained largely disrupted and steady even as some peers faced a fall in deposits. It also cut its saving deposit rate in select buckets to protect NIMs. It has retained a hold rating with target of Rs 1290.

Metal stocks are also under pressure. The top losers included JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Jindal Steel & Power, Hindalco Industries, Coal India and NALCO.

Nifty Pharma is the outperforming sector, up over 4 percent led by Cipla which jumped 7 percent after the drug maker announced completion of Phase-3 clinical study for generic fluticasone propionate and salmeterol inhalation powder.

The other gainers included Lupin, Sun Pharma, Torrent Pharma, Biocon and Dr Reddy's Labs.

Global Research firm Morgan Stanley has a buy on Sun Pharma with target of Rs 449 per share and a buy on Lupin with target of Rs 761 per share. It upgraded Cipla to overweight on strong franchise and steady earnings growth outlook, a CNBC-TV18 report said.

India VIX fell 5.18 percent and was trading at 56.94 level.

The top gainers included Sun Pharma, Mahindra & Mahindra, ONGC, ITC and Bajaj Finance while the top losers included IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, Titan Company and Asian Paints.

155 stocks hit 52-week low on BSE including RBL Bank, TVS Motor, PVR, JSW Steel, Phoenix Mills, Tata Power, Bharat Forge, Eicher Motors and Sun TV Network among others.

The most active stocks included Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.

Disclosure: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.