Sensex continues to consolidate; Aurobindo, Hindalco slip 3%

Moneycontrol Bureau11:39 am Buzzing: Drugmaker Aurobindo Pharma shares hit lowest in more than nine months after it was named in a lawsuit alleging it colluded with other drugmakers to fix prices of two commonly-used drugs in the United States.

About 44 percent of Aurobindo's sales come from its US business.

The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the District of Connecticut by 20 US states, also named Heritage Pharmaceuticals Inc, a company owned by India's Emcure Pharma Ltd, as a "ring leader" of the price manipulation.

The suit pertained to commonly-used antibiotic doxycycline hyclate, and glyburide, an older drug used to treat diabetes.

Others named in the suit include the world's largest generic drugs maker Teva Pharmaceuticals, Mylan NV, Citron Pharma LLC, and Australia's Mayne Pharma.11:20 am Listing: Hyderabad-based healthcare company Laurus Labs is set to debut on bourses December 19. The company has fixed issue price of Rs 428, the higher end of price band.

The pharma company has raised Rs 1,332-crore through initial public offering that was opened during December 6-8, 2016.

The issue was oversubscribed 4.57 times on the huge support from qualified institutional buyers (QIBs).

The reserved portion of QIBs was subscribed over 10.5 times, while high networth individuals and retail investors' quota received 3.58 times and 1.67 times subscription, respectively.

The firm intends to utilise fresh issue proceeds for pre-payment of loans and general corporate purposes.Also read - Claris at new high, up 20% on sale of injectable biz to Baxter11:00 am Market Check

The market continued to consolidate with the Nifty gyrating in a range of 8130-8150 in morning. ITC and ICICI Bank were the leading contributors while Infosys and HDFC continued to support the market.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 25.22 points at 26493.85 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 12.10 points to 8141.50.

Gold edged up but remained near its weakest level in 10-1/2 months, pressured as the US dollar surged to multi-year peaks after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates and projected further hikes in 2017.

Oil prices edged up after market sources said Kuwait had told customers it was cutting supplies by more than initially expected from January as part of a coordinated effort by oil producers to drain a global glut.

International Brent crude oil futures were trading at USD 54.29 per barrel, up 0.5 percent from their last settlement. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 0.31 percent, at USD 51.21 per barrel.