Indian shares subdued as caution ahead of key data offsets pharma gains

BENGALURU, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Indian shares were subdued in early trading on Tuesday, as caution ahead of upcoming key data offset gains in pharmaceutical stocks.

The Nifty 50 (.NSEI) index was down 0.07% at 19,585, while the S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) fell 0.11% to 65,883.04 at 9:54 a.m. IST.

Eleven of the Niftys 13 major sectoral indexes gained, with pharma index (.NIPHARM) rising as much as 1.04% to a record high.

Drug maker Gland Pharma (GLAD.NS) surged 19.85% after reporting 41% rise in June-quarter revenue, aided by the acquisition of French firm Cenexi.

The broader midcaps (.NIFMDCP100) and smallcaps (.NIFSMCP100) added over 0.3% each, outperforming the blue chip indexes.

\“Decent, but in-line June quarter results, reasonable macroeconomic positions, but rich valuations show that the investment environment is good but nowhere as great as is being made by stock market valuations,\” wrote three analysts from Kotak Institutional Equities.

Asian equities fell, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index (.MIAPJ0000PUS) losing 0.76% as investors digested weaker Chinese trade data ahead of key inflation readings from China and the U.S.

Domestic investors also await the Reserve Bank of Indias policy decision, due on Thursday.

\“The RBI is likely to keep the rates on hold given the rise in inflation since the last policy,\” said Amit Kumar Gupta, Founder of Fintrekk Capital.

\“Expect earnings-linked, stock-specific action to continue for the next few sessions with consolidation in benchmarks to continue.\”

Among individual stocks, Hero MotoCorp (HROM.NS) jumped as much as 3.38% and was the top Nifty gainer, after the two-wheeler maker said that it received more than 25,000 bookings for Harley-Davidson X440.

Adani Green (ADNA.NS) climbed 3.53% after INQ Holdings, a subsidiary of Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), bought a near-2.7% stake in the company in a bulk deal, according to data on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran and Anisha Ajith in Bengaluru; editing by Eileen Soreng, Sohini Goswami and Varun H K

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