Shares of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, India's largest drugmaker by market capitalisation, fell as much as 4.1 per cent to Rs 538.65, their lowest since July 17. The stock was the top percentage loser on the NSE index, which is up 0.21 per cent as of 0413 GMT.

The company had on Tuesday posted a surprise second-quarter loss of Rs 219 crore ($30.38 million) on Tuesday due to a provision of Rs 1,214 crore for estimated settlements with remaining plaintiffs in a US antitrust litigation related to its sleep disorder drug Modafinil.

This was the company's first quarterly loss in five. “We believe that the investments needed to achieve (US) market share will be high. This could put pressure on near-term margins,” Jefferies said.

Jefferies has cut the price target to Rs 535 from Rs 605, and has retained 'hold' rating. “Going ahead, Sun expects sequential progress in US/domestic formulations but we remain cautious about the margins performance due to higher spend on specialty,” Phillip Capital said in a note.

About 6 million shares were traded compared with the 30-day moving average of around 4.6 million shares ($1 = 72.0900 Indian rupees).

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