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Pharma stocks have once again caught the attention of investors with the Nifty Pharma index soaring to fresh highs on Tuesday. Money managers say investors' focus on the so-called defensive investment themes in the wake of the run-up of the broader market and the strong performance of a drug have revived appetite for pharma stocks. The pharma index rose 0.8% Tuesday while the benchmark Nifty ended almost flat."Most risk-averse investors are moving money from defence and railway stocks to pharma because the sector is not cyclical and there is minimal risk of capital erosion in the sector in case of economic downturn," said Nikhil Ranka, CIO, equity alternatives, Nuvama Asset Management.So far this year, the Nifty Pharma index has gained 34.82% and the benchmark Nifty advanced 15.07% in the same period. 112851352Lupin, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddys Lab and Glenmark Pharma are the top stock picks in the sector, said Rajesh Palviya, senior vice president research - technical and derivatives, Axis Securities.Overseas investors bought healthcare stocks in the first half of August, while they sold in most other sectors. The sector received foreign inflows worth ₹3,462 crore in the August 1-15 period, following purchases to the tune of ₹5,054 in July. Between January and July, they pumped ₹11,694 crore in the sector."Foreign investors are deploying funds in sectors where growth expectations are moderate and not high, as high growth sectors are likely to not deliver the promised growth," said Aditya Khemka, fund manager at Incred Asset Management. "They are rotating funds from growth stocks to defensive , such as pharma, as these are not macro sensitive sectors." 112851364REVLIMID BOOSTSeveral top drugmakers have got a boost from the sales of the generic version of Revlimid in the US. Revlimid is an oral medication to treat blood cancers."The unbranded generic pharma companies have performed phenomenally well in the last few months due to a product called Revlimid which contributed to extra revenue and profitability," said Khemka.Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Zydus Lifesciences, Sun Pharma and Natco Pharma are among the Indian companies selling Revlimid in the US."Post FY26 the drug will lose its exclusivity and is expected to adversely impact profitability," said Khemka. He added unbranded generic pharma companies are trading at expensive valuations, while the branded generic companies are trading closer to their historical valuations."Since branded generic companies don't cater to the markets in the United States, they will not be impacted by Revlimid and are likely to post consistent earnings," said Khemka.‘Defensive’ Pharma Scales New PeakMORE GAINSAnalysts said pharma stocks could move up further as technical indicators are pointing to continued gains. “The pharma sector has been in a long phase of consolidation and managed to give a breakout at the long-term timeframe,” sector has been in a long phase of consolidation and managed to give a breakout at the longterm timeframe,” said Palviya. “Looking at the overall texture of the sector, the index could move 10-15% higher in this calendar year.”

Leading automakers including Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motor India and Tata Motors Tuesday said they will extend discounts on new vehicle purchases against scrapped vehicles, under the government’s Voluntary Fleet Modernisation Programme (VVMP) scheme.These discounts will be extended for a limited period of one year by passenger vehicle makers, and two years by commercial vehicle makers, according to an official statement.The announcement came after a meeting of Minister for Road, Transport & Highways (MoRTH) Nitin Gadkari with representatives of the automobile industry.The initiative is a significant step forward in advancing India's circular economy, promoting the use of cleaner, safer and more efficient vehicles, according to the statement.112834066Passenger vehicle makers Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hyundai Motor India, Kia Motors, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, Honda Cars, JSW MG Motor, Renault India, Nissan India and Skoda Volkswagen India offered discount of 1.5% of the ex-showroom price of a new car or Rs 20,000, whichever is lower, against the passenger vehicle scrapped by an owner in the last six months. German luxury carmaker Mercedes Benz India has offered a flat discount of Rs 25,000, which will be over and above all existing discounts, the statement said.Details of the scrapped vehicle will be linked in the government’s Vahan portal. Companies may voluntarily offer additional discounts on identified models.112841111According to the statement, passenger vehicle makers can offer discounts against scrapped vehicles only on identified models in their portfolio. Since an old car is not getting exchanged for a new vehicle but only scrapped, hence between exchange and scrap discount, only scrappage discount will be applicable, it said.In the commercial vehicle segment, Tata Motors, Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles, Ashok Leyland, Mahindra & Mahindra, Force Motors, Isuzu Motors and SML Isuzu, said they will offer discount equivalent to 3% of the ex-showroom price for a commercial cargo vehicle with more than 3.5 tonne GVW scrapped by the ‘owner’ in the last six months, and a discount equivalent to 1.5% of the ex-showroom price for a commercial cargo vehicle with less than 3.5 tonne GVW scrapped by the ‘owner’ in the same timeframe.The statement noted that these discounts will further incentivise scrapping of vehicles, ensuring the plying of safer, cleaner, and more efficient vehicles on Indian roads.

Consumer confidence in the United States rose slightly in August, according to survey data published Tuesday, beating expectations and extending a recent increase in optimism. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index inched higher to 103.3 in August, up slightly from a revised figure of 101.9 a month earlier. This was comfortably above market expectations, according to Briefing.com. The modest rise is likely to be well-received by US Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running against former president Donald Trump in November's elections.112747472The two candidates have looked to talk up their respective economic records, with the cost of living and inflation playing a major role in the campaign. "Overall consumer confidence rose in August but remained within the narrow range that has prevailed over the past two years," Conference Board chief economist Dana Peterson said in a statement. "Consumers continued to express mixed feelings in August," she added. "Compared to July, they were more positive about business conditions, both current and future, but also more concerned about the labor market."Last month's US jobs report came in well below expectations, setting off a brief fall in stock markets and raising fears of recession.However, markets stabilized almost as rapidly as they had fallen, and monetary policymakers have stressed that the labor market remains relatively strong by historical standards. "Consumers' assessments of the current labor situation, while still positive, continued to weaken, and assessments of the labor market going forward were more pessimistic," Peterson said.112787217Consumer confidence declined for people under the age of 35, although young people remained the most optimistic age group, according to Peterson. But there was a disparity based on income, with consumers earning more than $100,000 a year feeling the most confident, and those on salaries of less than $25,000 noting a decline."The index continues to waffle in a narrow range, much like other measures of consumer spirits," Navy Federal Credit Union corporate economist Robert Frick said in a statement. "It may take a major shift, such as significantly lower interest rates or the expansion getting a second wind, before we see optimism rise to pre-2020 levels," he added. Inflation expectations dropped to 4.9 percent in August, their lowest level since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, the Conference Board said. Consumer expectations of higher interest rates in the next 12 months fell for the third consecutive month, hitting the lowest level since February this year.

Asia Index, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BSE, on Tuesday launched its new real-time index — BSE Sensex Next 30. The index tracks the performance of the largest companies from the BSE 100 that are beyond the benchmark Sensex companies.The BSE Sensex Next 30 index is likely to offer a proposition for investment managers and investors looking to benefit from the growth of the next set of market-leading companies.The weight of the 30 stocks in the index is based on their free-float market capitalisation. The index has representations from sectors like financial services, consumer discretionary, energy, commodities, healthcare, industries, FMCG, IT, and utilities.Additionally, the constituents must have an underlying derivatives contract to be included in the index. The first value date is June 20, 2014, and the base value is 10,000. It has a USD variant BSE SENSEX Next 30 USD.The index constituents will be reviewed semi-annually and rebalanced on a quarterly basis."Investors can now access a broader spectrum of market opportunities, enriching their investment strategies with the latest addition to BSE's suite of indices," according to a release.“BSE Sensex Next 30 will have wide appeal among retail and institutional customers as it scores well on parameters such as liquidity, low impact cost, risk-adjusted returns, high vintage of operational excellence, etc. This makes it conducive for running exchange traded funds (ETFs) and index funds for benchmarking of PMS strategies, MF Schemes and fund portfolios,” said Ashutosh Singh, MD & CEO of Asia Index at the index launch. BSE CEO Sundararaman Ramamurthy emphasised that the voice of the customer will remain the key underpinning for product innovation at AIPL just as it has been for everything at the BSE."This is the first in a series of launches to follow as there are a lot of white spaces that need addressing from asset managers in India and globally," Ramamurthy said.Delivering the keynote address, Nilesh Shah, MD at Kotak AMC, noted that there is a need for more relevant indices in the capital markets space and we welcome credible institutions like AIPL to work on product innovation so asset managers will have robust options to benchmark against and run passive strategies on.