Asian stocks are lower today as Japanese and Hong Kong shares fall. The Nikkei 225 is off 0.09% while the Hang Seng is down 0.08%. The Shanghai Composite is trading up by 0.72%. Overnight US stocks closed with gains as investors looked forward to earnings season.

Back home, India share markets opened the day on a flat note. The BSE Sensex is trading higher by 35 points while the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 9 points. The BSE Mid Cap index and BSE Small Cap index both opened the day up by 0.4% & 0.5% respectively.

Sectoral indices have opened the day on a mixed note with automobile stocks and realty stocks witnessing buying interest. While capital goods stocks and bank stocks have opened the day in the red. The rupee is trading at 65.02 to the US$.

Tata Motors share price surged 4% in the opening trade after it sold 187,321 units in the April 2017-March 2018 period, growing at a rate of 22%. Tata Motors has become the fourth-largest passenger vehicle (PV) maker by dethroning Honda Cars Indian in the FY18.

In the news from the pharma sector. As per an article in a leading financial daily, Sun Pharma has received USFDA approval for Methadone Hydrochloride tablet.

Reportedly, Methadone HCL is marketed under the brand Methadose by Specgx LLC. The approval has come for 10mg and 5mg formulations and it is used to treat the pain and opioid addiction.

Notably, Aurobindo Pharma is also selling this generic (approx. 18% market share) while Mallinckrodt is the largest player in this drug with approx. 50% market share. Mallinckrodt, however has been losing its market share, the reports noted.Methadone HCL market for 5mg and 10mg in 2017 was about US$75million. The market is mostly favouring generics and there are already 9-10 generics in this product.

Sun Pharma’s entry should further reduce the market share of Mallinckrodt.

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