NIFTY50 above 25,500, SENSEX jumps 588 pts in afternoon session; Nestle, Eternal, Axis Bank among buzzing stocks

The Indian stock market continued to rally in the afternoon session on Thursday, October 16, mirroring strong global cues and support from the realty, auto and FMCG stocks.

Titan Company shares were the biggest contributor, soaring 2.63%, followed by Nestle India (2.6%), Axis Bank (2.14%), Adani Ports (2.03%) and Tata Motors (1.80%).

Buzzing stocks on October 16: Check list

Shares of the FMCG giant soared 5% to hit a 52-week high of ₹1,281.60 apiece on Thursday as the company released its September quarter earnings.

Maggi Noodles maker Nestle India posted a 23.63% decline in its standalone profit after tax to ₹753.2 crore in the second quarter of the financial year 2025-26. In the year-ago period, the post-tax profit stood at 986.36 crore.

Revenue from operations advanced 10.57% to ₹5,643.61 crore in the latest September quarter as against ₹5,104 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal year.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), or operating profit, climbed 5.9% to ₹1,237 crore compared to ₹1,168 crore a year back. EBITDA margin fell 100 basis points to 21.9%.

Manish Tiwary, Chairman and Managing Director of Nestlé India, stated, “I am happy to report that domestic sales grew at a double-digit rate, led by volume growth. Three out of four product groups delivered strong volume-led double-digit growth. Our domestic sales reached INR 5,411 crore, the highest ever recorded in any quarter."

Shares of Axis Bank, the country’s leading private sector lender, rose as much as 4.04% to hit an intraday high of ₹1,216.90 apiece on NSE, a day after it reported its September quarter earnings.

Axis Bank post market hours on Wednesday reported a net profit of ₹5,090 crore in the second quarter of the current financial year, marking a decline of 26% from ₹6,918 crore in the same period last year.

The decline in profit came on the back of higher provisioning for bad loans, as its provisions jumped 61% to ₹3,547 crore from ₹2,204 crore in the year-ago period.

Axis Bank’s net interest income (NII), or the difference between interest earned on loans and expended on deposits, rose nearly 2% to ₹13,744 crore from ₹13,483 crore.

At 12:20 PM, Axis Bank shares were trading at ₹1,194.10 apiece on NSE, gaining 2.09%.

Zomato parent firm Eternal shares were trading flat on Thursday, as the firm is expected to announce its September quarter earnings after market hours.

Experts believe that Eternal could report revenue of between ₹6,750 crore and ₹7,220 crore during the September quarter, representing an increase of 41–50% year on year. However, revenue could see a marginal drop compared to the previous quarter. The company registered revenues of ₹4,799 crore in Q2 FY25 and ₹7,167 crore in the June quarter.

Eternal's net profit could decline by 58–61% year on year to ₹68–73 crore, while it may rise by 172–190% sequentially. Eternal reported a net profit of ₹176 crore in Q2 FY25, compared to ₹25 crore in the previous quarter. Experts believe that the company's improved profitability during the quarter is likely to be driven by the rapid addition of stores to the Blinkit business and the change to an inventory-led model.

Eternal shares have touched an intraday high of ₹360.85 and a low of ₹353.30 apiece on Thursday. At 12:25 PM, the stock was trading at ₹354.25 per share on NSE, losing 0.03%.

KEI Industries shares tumble nearly 9% to an intraday low of ₹4,031.9 apiece on Thursday as its September quarter earnings fail to impress the Street.

The company’s consolidated net profit for the quarter ended September 30, 2025, (Q2 FY26) grew 31.2% to ₹204 crore as compared to ₹155 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year.

Its revenue from operations also increased 22% year-on-year (YoY) to ₹2,726 crore as against ₹2,239 crore in the year-ago period.

On the operational front, KEI Industries' earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 50.4% to ₹269 crore from ₹179 crore in Q2 FY25. Its operating profit margin, or EBITDA margin, expanded to 9.8% in Q2 FY26 in contrast to 7.9% in Q2 FY25.

On a consolidated basis, the company’s net sales for H1 FY26 came in at ₹5,316.67 crore as against ₹4,348.84 crore YoY. During H1 FY 26, EBIDTA was ₹609.26 crore against the same period in the previous year of ₹469.94 crore.

Following the earnings, shares of KEI Industries slipped in trade on Thursday. At 12:27 PM, the stock was trading at ₹4,164.80 apiece on NSE, declining 5.79%.

Shares of pharmaceutical player Rubicon Research made a robust debut on the stock exchanges on Thursday. The stock listed at ₹620 apiece on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). This reflects a premium of 27.84% over the IPO issue price of ₹485 per share.

On the BSE, it started trading at ₹620.10, up 27.86% from the issue price.

The ₹1,377.50 crore IPO was a mix of new shares worth ₹500 crore and an offer for sale of ₹877.50 crore.

The initial public offering got subscribed a massive 103.90 times. It secured bids for 1,709,680,620 equity shares against 16,455,670 shares on offer, according to the NSE data.

Rubicon Research Ltd is a pharmaceutical formulation company with a focus on innovation and research and development (R&D). 

Shares of the IT services firm were on investors' radar on Thursday ahead of its September quarter earnings. Experts believe Infosys could report low single-digit growth in revenue and net profit on a sequential basis.

Infosys' net profit may range between ₹7,035 and ₹7,215 crore, up 1.5% to 4.2% compared to the previous quarter. The company reported a net profit of ₹6,921 crore in Q1FY26 and ₹6,506 crore in the same quarter last year.

Meanwhile, Infosys Q2 revenue could increase by 4.2 to 4.5% on a sequential basis to ₹44,100 to ₹44,210 crore. The company registered revenue of ₹42,279 crore in Q1FY26 and ₹40,986 crore in the September quarter of FY25.

Infosys shares have touched an intraday high of ₹1,473.90 and a low of ₹1,460.50 apiece on Thursday. At 12:32 PM, the stock was seen at ₹1,468.50 per share, losing 0.40%.

Shares of HDFC Asset Management Company (HDFC AMC) surged as much as 2.96% to a record high of ₹5,934.50 on NSE, a day after reporting its second quarter results for the 2025-26 financial year (Q2FY26). It also announced its first-ever bonus issue along with the earnings.

Shares of HDFC AMC were trading 1.21% higher at ₹5,834 per equity share as of 12:34 PM.

The asset management firm posted a 24% year-on-year (YoY) increase in its net profit to ₹718 crore during the quarter under review, compared to ₹577 crore in the September quarter of the previous fiscal year, it said in a regulatory filing dated Wednesday.

The Mumbai-headquartered company’s revenue from operations grew by 16% YoY to ₹1,026 crore in the quarter ended September 2025, as against ₹887 crore in the same quarter of FY25.

The company's total expenses stood at ₹246 crore during the quarter, marking a jump of 24% YoY from ₹199 crore in Q2FY25.