After trading flat in the noon session, Indian share markets witnessed some buying activity in the final hour of trading and finished in green. At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 83 points, while the NSE Nifty finished up by 42 points. The S&P BSE Mid Cap & the S&P BSE Small Cap indices both finished up by 0.5%. The Metal sector gained the most, followed by PSU and energy stocks.

Asian markets finished mixed as of the most recent closing prices. The Shanghai Composite gained 0.43% and the Hang Seng rose 0.06%. The Nikkei 225 lost 1.29%. European markets are lower today with shares in London off the most. The CAC 40 is down 0.28% while London's FTSE 100 is off 0.51% and Germany's DAX is lower by 0.38%.

The rupee was trading at 68.13 against the US$ in the afternoon session. Oil prices were trading at US$ 52.42 at the time of writing.

Infosys share price finished the trading day on an optimistic note (up 0.3%) after it was reported that the company has invested a little over US$ 62 million from its US$ 500 million innovation fund in start-ups. The Innovation fund was set up in 2013 with a corpus of US$100 million earmarked for startups and other innovative businesses outside the company.

The company has invested in a dozen start-ups, including Stellaris Venture Partners, Unsilo, Trifacta, Cloudyn, and TidalScale using the fund. These investments could play an important role in helping the company reach its aspirational goal of US$ 20 billion revenues by 2020.

In April 2015, Infosys had set aside half of the US$ 500 million innovation fund to focus exclusively on new Indian startups and had also launched a startup accelerator. Last month it invested an undisclosed amount from the fund in Mumbai-based IdeaForge, known for manufacturing the Netra unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in its US$ 10 million Series A investment round.

Meanwhile, the company reported a 2.83% rise in net profit to Rs 37.08 billion for the December quarter. The company posted a 1.4% sequential drop in dollar revenue in the December quarter.

The US, which brings 62% of Infosys's revenue, declined by 0.6% sequentially, while business from Europe, which accounts for 22.2% of overall revenue, declined 2.5%. Banking, financial services and insurance, which brings more than a third of revenue, declined 0.8%.

As per the reports, Infosys's latest revision of its revenue outlook means the management has shaved US$ 588 million off the US$ 1.31 billion in new business it had expected to do this year in April, when it had guided for at-best growth of 13.8%.

IT stocks finished the trading day on a strong note with Oracle Financial Services and HCL Technologies leading the gains.

Moving on to news from stocks in pharma sector. Lupin share price finished up by 1.4% in today's trade after it was reported that the company has received final approval for its Paroxetin Extended Release Tablets USP, 12.5 mg, 25 mg and 37.5 mg from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA).

The company's Paroxetin Extended Release Tablets USP, 12.5 mg, 25 mg and 37.5 mg are the AB rated generic equivalents of Apotex Technologies, Inc's Paxil CR Tablets, 12.5 mg, 25 mg and 37.5 mg. It is indicated for the treatment of major depressive disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder and premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Paxil CR Tablets reportedly had US sales of US$127.7 million.

Share Price of Lupin has dipped 14% in Last One Year

In another development, as per an article in The Times of India, domestic pharmaceutical companies may be impacted and could see a rough road ahead in the US, if it decides to implement the proposed border adjustment tax (BAT) under the plan to revamp corporate taxes.

The new measure is aimed at boosting US manufacturing by taxing imports, while exempting US business export revenues from corporate taxation. BAT will be 'detrimental' to domestic companies exporting to the US, and may erode the profitability by 17-46%, if the bill is passed in the present format.

India contributes around 30% of the overall volume of drugs consumed in the US, with generic companies, including Sun Pharma, Lupin and Glenmark Pharma, exporting around 40% of their overall sales.

Pharma companies finished mixed with Divis Labs and Natco Pharma leading the losses.

And here's a note from Profit Hunter:

Let us look at the chart of the stock in news, Lupin Ltd.

Lupin was once Dalal Street's favorite pharma stock. It started its Bull Run in 2008 at Rs 94 and touched a high of Rs 2,128 in October 2015.

The stock is stuck in a very tight range since August 2016. An interesting indicator to watch out for during such period is 'Bollinger Band Width' (BBW). The indicator is quite easy to read. High levels suggest a very high volatility period. A low reading indicates that the stock is experiencing low volatility.

A low reading in BBW or low volatility period is often followed by high volatility period and vice-versa.

When we plot BBW indicator on weekly chart of Lupin, we observe an all-time low reading which means a huge movement could be possible in the next few sessions.

Now, the direction of the movement is something to watch out for...

Lupin's Band Width Indicating a Large Move to Come