Pharma stocks were in the fast lane on Friday's bell emerging as top gainers on exchanges despite a broader volatile markets session. The rapid progress in the Covid-19 vaccination drive has offset concerns about the second wave of the virus and partial lockdown. Nifty Pharma has outperformed benchmark Nifty 50.
At around 12.47 pm, Nifty Pharma was trading at 12,936.95 up by 325.25 points or 2.58%. The index has touched an intraday high and low of 12,957.50 and 12,582.60 respectively.
Cadila Healthcare was the top gainer on Nifty Pharma surging by nearly 7%. Aurobindo Pharma and
Sun Pharma followed with nearly 4% upside each.
On Thursday, Cadila received final approval from the USFDA to market Ibrutinib Capsules, 70 mg and 140 mg. Also, the company bagged approval to market Macitentan Tablets, 10 mg.
Stocks like
Cipla and Lupin zoomed by more than 3%. Meanwhile, Alkem Lab, Dr Reddy's Lab, Biocon and Torrent Pharma climbed nearly 2% each.
However, Divis Lab was the top underperformer tumbling by 0.3%.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare today said that the cumulative number of COVID19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 9.43 Cr. Further, the ministry added that in terms of the number of daily doses administered globally, India continues to remain at the top with an average of 37,94,328 doses administered per day.
However, the ministry also said that India’s daily new cases continue to rise. 1,31,968 new cases were registered in the last 24 hours.