Pharma stocks are under significant selling pressure. The Nifty Pharma fell as much as 2.6% to an intra-day low of 19,839.60 after US President Donald Trump announced that they will be introducing “major” tariffs on pharmaceutical imports.
All the constituents of the index were trading in the red. Biocon, Granules India, Laurus Labs, Lupin, and IPCA Lab were the major losers of the index.
The share price of Biocon declined 4.85% to a low of Rs 306.65 while that of Granules India fell 4.2% to an intra-day low of Rs 425.70.
While the heavyweights like Sun Pharma, Lupin, Cipla, and Dr Reddy’s were dragging the index.
Sun Pharma’s share price lost 2.8% to Rs 1,640, intra-day. However, the stock price soon came off lows to trade 0.9% lower at Rs 1,672.55 around 10.25 AM.
According to Trump, the move is aimed at encouraging drug firms to move back their operations to the US. Previously, the Trump administration had exempted pharmaceuticals, energy, chemicals, and semiconductors from the scope of its tariff policy.
“We are going to be announcing very shortly a major tariff on pharmaceuticals,” Trump said Tuesday without giving much details about the move. “Once we do that, they’re going to come rushing back into our country, because we’re the big market,” added Trump. “The advantage we have over everybody is that we’re the big market.”
Nifty Pharma’s performance
The Nifty Pharma index has fallen 8.4% in the last five trading sessions. It has declined by more than 1% in the past one month and 16% in the last six months. However, the index has given a return of almost 15% in the previous one year.
To compare, the benchmark index Nifty 50 has fallen 3.7% in the last five days. The index has lost 0.3% in the last one month and over 10% in the past six months. The index has erased over 1% of investors’ wealth in the last one year.