Pharma Stocks Wrap Up - Lower: MRK, NVS, TEVA

Published on Thursday, 29 July 2010 16:58 Written by Gerard Lerod

New York, July 29th (TradersHuddle.com) - The market ended the trading session lower with the S&P 500 losing 0.42%. Stocks of Pharmaceutical Companies also traded lower, with NYSE Drug index ending the trading session at 280.59, which represents -0.2% versus the previous tradings session close. The Drug index had widespread weakness with 4 out of 15 components trading higher.

The sector's top performer today was Merck (NYSE:MRK) closing the trading session at $35.06 representing 0.92%. versus the previous trading session price action. Merck, the maker of Singulair and Zocor, shares have defined support at $34.41 and resistance at $36.8.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) was also among the top performers, closing the trading session at $49.09 representing 0.84% from its previous close. Novartis, the Basel, Switzerland based pharmaceutical company has calculated support and resistance levels at $48.38 and $51.62 respectively. The other top performer was Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), which closed the trading session at $15.09 representing 0.6% from the previous trading session.

The sector's worst performer today was Teva (NASDAQ:TEVA) that closed the trading session at $47.17 or -2.62% from the previous close. Teva, the largest generic drug maker in the world shares have defined support at $48.57 and resistance at $56.37. Also among the worst performers was Forest Laboratories (NYSE:FRX), which closed the trading session at $27.82 representing -1.8% from the previous trading session.