Indian share markets witnessed most of the selling pressure during closing hours and ended their trading session on a negative note. All sectoral indices ended on a negative note with metal stocks, auto stocks, and healthcare stocks losing the most.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 250 points (down 0.7%) and the NSE Nifty closed down by 85 points (down 0.7%). The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index ended the day down by 1.2%.

The rupee was trading at 70.55 against the US$.

Asian stock markets finished on a negative note. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng was down by 1.6% and the Shanghai Composite was down by 0.6%. The Nikkei 225 was down 0.5%.

In the news from the engineering space, L&T share price was in focus today as the company's construction arm - L&T Construction has won orders worth Rs 21 billion across two business segments.

The company's Water and Effluent Treatment Business has secured orders worth Rs 19.5 billion from the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (AP CRDA) for investigation, design E and construction of roads, bridges, storm water drains, water supply, sewerage, utility ducts for power & ICT, reuse waterline, avenue plantation and artificial water body compatible with trunk infrastructure in layouts for in Amaravati Capital City in Andhra Pradesh.

The business has also secured a turnkey order from the Jharkhand Urban Infrastructure Development Company (JUIDCO) for the execution of drinking water supply projects in the Hazaribagh and Ranchi districts of Jharkhand.

Moving on to the news from the pharma space, Lupin share price was in focus today as the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) completed inspections at Lupin's Mandideep location.

Lupin's Mandideep location houses the company's cardiovascular 'Pril' API facilities, Cephalosporin API facilities and Cephalosporin Solid Oral Dosage Form facility.

These inspections were carried out between November 26 and December 4, 2018. The inspection at Unit-2, the Cardiovascular 'Pril' API facilities closed with 4 observations. The inspection at Unit-1, the Cephalosporin facilities closed with 10 observations for the Cephalosporin API facilities and 8 observations for the Cephalosporin Solid Oral Dosage Form facility.

The observations are largely procedural in nature with some gaps identified in the aseptic processing areas of the Cephalosporin API block.

In another news, Sun Pharma share price continued to be under pressure today and touched over five-year lows.

The stock has fallen 12% in three days, even though the company made a clarification related to corporate governance and whistleblower issues.

Last Tuesday, a note by Macquarie, an Australian brokerage firm went viral which raised concerns among the investing community.

The note raised questions about inadequate disclosures regarding the role of promoter Dilip Shanghvi's brother-in-law Sudhir Valia, Sun Pharma's past links with banned traders Ketan Parekh and Dharmesh Doshi, related party transactions involving promoter Shanghvi and guarantees given to real estate firm Suraksha Realty.

The note also questioned the selection of little-known London-based firm Jermyn Capital to manage the drug major's $275 million foreign convertible bond issue in 2004-07.

The markets regulator reportedly is planning to reopen the investigation into the insider trading case against the company and its promoters which was settled through consent mechanism.

To know more about the company, You can read Sun pharma Q2FY19 result analysis and Sun pharma fact sheet on our website.

Speaking of pharma sector, note that the BSE Healthcare Index has been on a roller coaster ride in the past few years. The period from 2012 to 2015 saw the index go up more than three times.

And since then it has been a painful ride downwards, as can be seen from the chart below:

The Roller Coaster Ride of the BSE Healthcare Index

We believe that pharma companies that invest in creating a pipeline of complex generics or building competencies in alternative dosage forms are better equipped to tackle the changing dynamics in the US generics market as well as in the overall industry.