Of 30 Sensex stocks, 26 are trading in the red. Sun Pharma (0.82 percent), Bajaj Auto (0.56 percent), Dr Reddy's (0.31 percent) top gainers.

Pharma stocks continue to underperform as policy uncertainty adds to the toll taken by USFDA and market challenges.

Tata Global Beverages September-quarter group consolidated net profit at Rs 144 crore versus profit of Rs 127 crore last year. Eicher Motors Q2 consolidated net profit at Rs 518 crore versus profit of Rs 413 crore last year. Shares slip 1.67 percent to 30,050 level.

Market breadth was positive with 1,485 stocks closing higher against 1,230 ending in the red on the BSE. 141 stocks remained unchanged.

Just last month when Lupin announced an acquisition in the US in a niche therapy area, analysts pointed out that the company may have to wait for a couple of years more for benefits to accrue.

Market breadth was negative with 763 stocks rising against 1950 falling on the BSE. Lupin (17.30 percent), Cipla (6.47 percent), State Bank of India (3.19 percent) were among the other top losers.

The Rs 3600 crore acquisition of Unichem's domestic business by Torrent Pharma has brought the mojo back into India pharma's merger and acquisition scene, which was eluding large deals in the past few years.

Analysts see it as a good opportunity for Lupin but feel the company may need to wait for say another two years or so for benefits to accrue since they may first need to invest in certain things, putting additional pressure on the company.

The US-based global CEO of Lupin, Vinita Gupta, tells P.B. Jayakumar about the crises Indian drug companies are facing in the US.

His efforts have led to a positive impact on the lives of 2.8 million families in 3,463 villages across the country, the company said.

After a massive rally on Friday when the Indian benchmark indices hit lifetime highs, markets slipped at the strike of the opening bell today but quickly reversed losses to trade in the green.

In what started as a massive market rally, Sensex and Nifty saw lifetime highs in trade today only to reverse gains to trade flat as the market inched towards the closing bell.

Benchmark indices put on a sluggish performance in this truncated week. After posting solid gains in the last week, benchmark indices ended the week in red owing to Friday's steep fall.

Analysts said they expect indices to trade range-bound as companies continue to report results, though the overall outlook remains hopeful about an economic recovery.

Arjun Juneja joined New Delhi-based Mankind Pharma in 2008 after completing his Bachelor of Business Management from the University of Bradford and MBA from the University of Strathclyde, UK.

The S&P BSE Sensex tanked 220.73 points to close at 29,706.61 while the Nifty ended the day 63.65 points to 9,198.30. 

Leading Indian pharmaceutical companies are facing competition in the US from relatively smaller firms back home.

Pharma major Lupin Ltd has received final approval from the USFDA to market sodium sulfate, potassium sulfate, magnesium sulfate oral solution used in treatment of a form of cancer.

HealthCare, Financials, Oil and Gas, Banking, Energy and Consumer Durabled lifted the market only to capped by profit- booking in IT, Teck, Metal, Telecom and Auto segments.

With the Union Budget behind us, the focus would be on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) monetary policy on Wednesday, 8th February 2017. While most of the street expect the RBI to leave benchmark repo rates unchanged at 6.25 per cent.