Shares of pharmaceutical companies were on a roll at the bourses on Monday, with the Nifty Pharma index hitting an all-time high of 14,172, after rising 3 per cent on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on the back of strong rally in stocks like Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Torrent Pharma, Alkem Laboratories, Divis Laboratories, Lupin and Dr Reddys Laboratories. The pharma index surpassed its previous high of 14,020.70, touched in intra-day trade on April 7, 2015.
Since April, the Nifty Pharma index has outperformed the market by surging 15 per cent, against 1.7 per cent gain in the Nifty50 index. In the past one month, the market values of Cadila Healthcare, Lupin, Dr Reddys Laboratories, Divis Laboratories, Aurobindo Pharma and Sun Pharma have appreciated between 10 per cent and 21 per cent. In comparison, the benchmark index was up less than 1 per cent in that the period.