Share markets in India are presently trading on a positive note. Sectoral indices are trading in green with stocks in the IT sector and energy sector witnessing maximum buying interest.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 257 points (up 0.7%), while the NSE Nifty is trading up by 77 points (up 0.7%). The BSE Mid Cap index is trading up by 0.5% and the BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.6%.

The rupee is trading at Rs 70.30 against the US$.

In the news from the FMCG sector, Hindustan Unilever share price (HUL) is in focus today as the company is reportedly considering 'legal options' after GST anti-profiteering authority found it guilty of not passing on rate cut benefits to consumers.

As per an article in a leading financial daily, the National Anti Profiteering Authority (NAA) passed an order against the company on December 24, 2018 for depositing an amount of Rs 2.2 billion.

The NAA said HUL did not pass on the benefit of GST rate cuts to the consumers. In September, the regulator had ruled that suppliers would be liable to pay penalty for not passing the benefits of GST rate reduction on the sale of goods.

The NAA had stated before that the GST rate on many products was cut from 28% to 18%, HUL has not reduced the maximum retail price (MRP) of its products. The authority had found the company guilty of not passing on rate cut benefits of Rs 3.8 billion to consumers.

Earlier this year, the company voluntarily submitted Rs 1.6 billion as the profiteering amount to the government.

To know more about the company, you can read HUL Q2FY19 result analysis and HUL Annual Report analysis on our website.

Moving on to the news from the pharma space, Suven Life share price is witnessing buying interest today on reports that the drug company has secured one product patent from Brazil and one product patent from Eurasia corresponding to the New Chemical Entities for the treatment of disorders associated with Neurodegenerative diseases and patents are valid through 2023 and 2034.

The granted claims of the patents include the class of selective 5-HT6 and 5-HT4 compounds respectively and are being developed as therapeutic agents for neurodegenerative disorders such as for the treatment of cognitive impairment associated with neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's disease, Attention deficient hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Huntington's disease, Parkinson and Schizophrenia etc.

In another news Piramal enterprises share price is also in focus today as the company's wholly owned subsidiary, Piramal Capital and Housing Finance (PCHFL) has launched its new home loan product - 'Advantage'.

This product is specially designed for parent-child where both can together pay a higher EMI in the initial years and then in later years, post retirement of a parent, the child can pay lower EMI and offers higher loan eligibility and EMIs matching the income of borrowers.

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

As we wrote in one of our editions of The 5 Minute WrapUp...

• Pre-2015, pharma companies enjoyed a fairytale ride in the US market. Low labor costs, good chemistry skills, along with efficiency, ensured Indian companies could copy innovator drugs to make generic drugs at a fast pace.
  
  The generic business had lucrative margins for all major pharma players. But the party did not last long. In the quest to supply drugs quickly, they compromised on quality at their manufacturing facilities.
  
  No wonder, the US regulatory authority (USFDA) took strict action. Sun Pharma received a warning letter for its Halol manufacturing facility in 2015. It was like a bolt out of the blue. Since then, the downward spiral began and has continued till date.

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.

In the news from the commodity space, after rising 8% in the previous session, oil fell as worries over a glut in crude supply and concerns over a faltering global economy pressured prices even as a stock market surge offered support.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies including Russia, agreed at a meeting earlier this month to limit output by 1.2 million barrels per day starting in January.

Airline stocks and oil marketing companies (OMCs) dropped up to 2% as crude prices rebounded from 17-month lows.

Oil prices have been pulled down sharply since October by signs of an economic slowdown. Meanwhile, the two world's biggest economies, the United States and China, are locked in a trade war which is threatening to slow global growth and battering investor sentiment.

It would be interesting to see how this pans out. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on all the developments from this space.