After opening the day flat, Indian share markets lost their momentum as the session progressed and ended the day lower.

Benchmark indices fell on Thursday, facing heavy volatility, amid the emergence of profit-taking and negative trend in the US markets. Hawkish remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell made investors cautious.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 281 points (down 0.4%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed down by 84 points (down 0.5%).

L&T and Tata Steel were among the top gainers today.

Bajaj Finance and Power Grid, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

Check out the NSE Nifty heatmap to get the complete list of gainers and losers.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 18,837, down by 72 points, at the time of writing.

Broader markets ended lower. The BSE Midcap index ended 1.1% lower and BSE SmallCap ended 0.6% higher.

All sectoral indices ended the day on a negative note with stocks in the realty sector, telecom sector, and power sector witnessing most of the selling.

Shares of MRF & ZF Commercial India hit their 52-week highs today.

Now track the biggest movers of the stock market using the stocks to watch today section. This should help you keep updated with the latest developments...

Asian stock markets ended on a negative note. The Nikkei ended lower by 0.9%, while the Hang Seng ended 2% lower. The Shanghai Composite ended 1.3% lower.

The rupee is trading at 81.95 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading lower by Rs 213 at Rs 58,501 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices for the latest contract on MCX are 0.7% lower at Rs 68,800 per kg.
 

Vedanta to sell its copper plant

In news from the mining sector, Vedanta is planning to revive its copper plant in Tamil Nadu, and is exploring options to sell the unit at a valuation of Rs 45 billion (bn).

The company invited expressions of interest (EoIs) for the unit in June 2022 but did not get a positive response as the plant was closed for the last five years. The process has now started again with bankers reaching out to potential bidders.

The company invited EoI on 12 June to restart activities following the Supreme Court's direction. The plant was shut down on the orders of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB).

Vedanta moved the apex court against the closure decision and the final verdict is likely by August.

Reports further stated that Vedanta Resources, the parent company of Vedanta, is doing all it can to raise funds to repay its debt and the amount raised by selling the unit would help in meeting its capital expenditure of US $ 1.7 bn (around Rs 139.3 bn) for this year.

Following the news of the sale Vedanta's share price was under pressure today. In fact, Vedanta share rice was in trouble even before the news. In 2023 so far it is down 11.1%.

Why Venus Remedies's share price is rising

Moving on to news from the pharma sector, Venus Remedies share price was locked at 5% upper circuit today at Rs 248.9 on Thursday after the company received marketing authorization from Spain for meropenem, its highest-selling generic product.

The company's German subsidiary Venus Pharma GmbH has received this approval for 500mg, 1g, and 2g injections of this last-recourse antibiotic. Venus Remedies has been the largest exporter of meropenem from India in the last three years.

The company plans to launch the product in December this year. It will be able to capture a 10% share in the US $ 6.3 million (m) (about Rs 516.4 m) meropenem market of Spain. It will help the pharma company strengthen its position in the European market as well.

A broad-spectrum antibiotic of the carbapenem class used in intensive care units of hospitals as a last resort for the treatment of life-threatening infections, meropenem contributes 40% to the company's total sales.

The market size for the broad-spectrum antibiotic in Europe is about US $ 70.3 m (about Rs 5,762.3 m). Venus Remedies has launched this drug in major European markets under its own brand name and through strategic alliance partners by way of tie-ups.

The company has secured more than 120 marketing authorizations for Meropenem throughout the world.

The company has managed to record about US$ 27 m in sales solely through the marketing of meropenem. The facilities of Venus Remedies have a capacity of manufacturing 24 m units of meropenem per annum on a single shift basis. The company is utilizing 60% of its capacity.
 

Why Delhivery share price rose 7% today

Moving on to news from the courier service sector, Delhivery shares jumped over 7% today on reports of American private equity firm Carlyle selling a 2.53% stake in the e-commerce logistics company.

According to the media reports, the deal is expected to fetch the PE firm as much as Rs 7.1 bn, or US$ 86 million (m). With this block deal, Carlyle will exit its entire shareholding in Delhivery.

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