Nifty still struggles below 8650; HDFC up, Axis & ONGC down

Moneycontrol Bureau11:45 am USFDA nod: Strides Shasun today said it has received an approval from the US health regulator for Abacavir tablets used in the treatment of HIV.

In a BSE filing, Strides Shasun said "it has received approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for Abacavir Tablets USP, 300 mg".

The product will be manufactured at the company's USFDA approved facility at Bengaluru and marketed by Strides in the US market.

"The product will be launched immediately," it added.

11:30 am Macro outlook: India Nikkei's October manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) came in at 54.4. A considerable rise compared to September's 52.1. The index is at its highest level since Demcember 2014.This was led by good rural demand due to above average monsoons and urban demand due to the Pay Commission, says Aditi Nayar of ICRA. This is completely consumption driven. For this to help in a wider economic recovery, an investment uptick is also very necessary, she says. The manufacturing PMI should paint a very positive picture, but she says investment recovery indicators still look negative.Don't miss: Buy, sell, hold: Investing calls on 12 stocks post results

The market continues to be sluggish wth the Nifty struggling below 8650. The Sensex is down 10.24 points at 27919.97, and the Nifty up 5.60 points at 8631.30. About 1260 shares have advanced, 1173 shares declined, and 86 shares are unchanged.

GAIL, HDFC, Lupin, Asian Paints and Hero MotoCorp are top gainers in the Sensex while ONGC, Axis Bank, Infosys, HUL and TCS are losers.

India's largest car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki disappointed analysts with its October sales as it sold 1.33 lakh units during the month, down 0.3 percent compared with 1.34 lakh units sold in year-ago period, dragged by exports and muted growth in domestic sales. It was worst on month-on-month basis as sales fell 10.3 percent.

Exports plunged 23.7 percent year-on-year and 15.2 percent month-on-month to 10,029 units while domestic sales increased 2.1 percent to 1.23 lakh units compared with corresponding period of last fiscal but dropped 9.9 percent from previous month.

Utility vehicles especially recently launched Vitara Brezza and S-Cross continued to be leader in sales growth, showing a whopping 90.9 percent rise over a year-ago period. Ciaz also reported a 8 percent growth but other segments were down.