Sensex under pressure; pharma stocks slip, Idea gains 3%

01:30pm New IPO: Nuziveedu Seeds, in which the Blackstone Group holds a 25 percent stake, is set to file for a market listing to raise up to USD 200 million, report media quoting unnamed sources.

Nuziveedu, which could file as early as next week, has hired JPMorgan, JM Financial Services and Axis Capital as lead managers, the sources said. They declined to be named as the information is not yet public.

Blackstone, which invested USD 54 million in the company in 2008, will make a part-exit with a near four times return on a seven-year-old investment, one of the sources said.

"We are almost done and could file it within a few weeks," said one of the sources. One other source said the filing could be completed within a week.

01:00pm Market Check

The market extended losses in afternoon trade due to selling in private banks and pharma stocks. The Sensex slipped 106.27 points to 28778.94 and the Nifty fell 39.50 points to 8738.80 amid consolidation.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices continued to trade higher, up around half a percent. Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of 1504 to 1114 on the BSE.

The Indian equity market looks like “on the best investments in Asia” right now and UBS is overweight the country, according to Hartmut Issel, the firm’s Head Equity & Credit for Asia Pacific and Chief Investment Officer for Wealth Management.

Issel said earnings growth and reforms momentum in the Indian market were two of the key drivers of UBS’ bullishness.

Cipla lost further, down 3.5 percent after CLSA downgraded the stock to sell from underperform with a target price of Rs 619. According to the brokerage, inhalers may offer only gradual upside in EU contrary to market expectations.

Shares of HDFC Bank, HDFC, TCS, L&T, Sun Pharma, Lupin and Hindalco dropped 1-3 percent while Sesa Sterlite and Idea Cellular topped the buying list, up 2-3 percent.

SBI gained nearly 2 percent as Barclays maintained its overweight on the stock with a target price of Rs 353. The brokerage said SBI is a significant outperformer in two key franchise products - savings accounts and credit cards.

Japan's Nikkei share average topped the psychological 20,000-point mark on Friday for the first time in 15 years on hopes of stronger corporate earnings, and gained 2.4 percent on the week. The Nikkei rose as high as 20,006 before ending down 0.2 percent at 19,907.63. For more information please visit this site www.appsmine.org