Asian stock markets are lower today as Japanese and Hong Kong shares fall. The Nikkei 225 is off 0.1% while the Hang Seng is also down 0.1%. The Shanghai Composite is trading up by 1.1%. Overnight, US stocks closed mixed amid concerns about the US-China trade relations and Italy’s mounting debt.

Back home, India share markets opened on a negative note following further depreciation in Indian rupee. The BSE Sensex is trading down by 174 points while the NSE Nifty is trading down by 52 points. The BSE Mid Cap index and BSE Small Cap index opened the day down by 0.3% & 0.5% respectively.

Barring healthcare stocks and IT stocks, all sectoral indices have opened the day in red with bank stocks and auto stocks witnessing maximum selling pressure.

The rupee is trading at Rs 73.32 against the US$.

2018 has been an eventful year, to say the least. The Sensex touched an all-time high of 38,990 last month.

The rupee touched an all-time low. The crude is going up and gained around 13% in 2018.

The midcap and smallcap indices are feeling the heat. They are down by about 9% and 13% respectively. Whereas, the Sensex is the outperformer with an increase of 12%.

And here’s how sectorial indices are performed in 2018.

Pharma and IT Outshine Their Peers

BSE IT index is up whopping 41% in 2018. The BSE Healthcare index also did well and is up 8.5%.

Over the last three months, the BSE Healthcare index rose by 24%.

Whereas, the BSE Auto and the BSE Oil & Gas indices were down 8.6% and 9.1% respectively.

With the rupee breaching the 72 mark, IT and pharma are outperforming all other indices.

In the news from the pharma sector. As per an article in a leading financial daily, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Limited’s wholly-owned subsidiary Promius Pharma has sold its rights of Cloderm (Clocortolone pivalate) cream, and its authorized generic to EPI Health, LLC.