NIFTY50 below 22,550, SENSEX drops over 850 pts in noon deals; Coal India, IRB Infra among buzzing stocks

The Indian benchmark indices, SENSEX and NIFTY50, were trading in the negative territory during the afternoon session on Monday, March 30, as the West Asia crisis entered its fifth week. Investor sentiment was also impacted by surging crude oil prices and a sell-off in banking stocks.

The SENSEX slumped by as many as 1,256.68 points to an intraday low of 72,326.54. Meanwhile, the NIFTY50 reached the session’s low of 22,453.

At 12:56 PM, the S&P BSE SENSEX declined by 892.70 points, or 1.21%, to 72,690.52, while NSE’s NIFTY50 was trading at 22,498.25, reflecting a 321.35 points, or 1.41% drop.

On Friday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹4,367.30 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹3,566.15 crore on a net basis, according to exchange data.

Shares of Bajaj Finance, which lost 3.76%, contributed to the decline of the NIFTY50 index. It was followed by Axis Bank (-3.29%), Shriram Finance (-2.95%), State Bank of India (-2.88%) and Bajaj Finserv (-2.61%), which were among the top losers.

On the contrary, the top gainers included Hindalco Industries (3.30%), Coal India (2.84%), ONGC (1.38%), Tata Steel (0.49%) and Bharat Electronics (0.49%).

Buzzing stocks on March 30: Check list

Banking stocks, such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, and SBI, among others, were trading in the negative territory on Monday, March 30, 2026. Furthermore, the NIFTY Bank index was trading 2.63% lower, as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) capped the open positions that banks can hold in the onshore currency market at $100 million at the end of each trading day.

The new rules will come into effect from April 10 and is expected to force banks to unwind their large positions and curb one-sided bets against the rupee. RBI announced this move on Friday, March 27, to curb speculative bets against the currency.

Shares of aluminium manufacturers, including Hindalco Industries, National Aluminium Company (NALCO), Vedanta Limited, and others, were trading in the green.

This comes after two Middle Eastern aluminium producers, Al Taweelah smelter of Emirates Global Aluminium and Aluminium Bahrain’s (Alba) facility, faced Iranian missiles and drone attacks on March 28, 2026, and underwent substantial damage, as per global media reports.

Analysts note that damage to two key aluminium production facilities in West Asia would likely tighten global supply, as the region is a major low-cost producer due to abundant energy resources.

This disruption would push up international aluminium prices (linked to benchmarks like the London Metal Exchange), which in turn benefits Indian manufacturers such as Hindalco Industries, Vedanta Limited, and National Aluminium Company.

Urban Company stock climbed as much as 7.19% to touch an intraday high of ₹122.80 per equity share on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), after the firm’s quick-service housekeeping vertical, InstaHelp, surpassed 1 million monthly delivered bookings in March.

The company said that the 1-million milestone came soon after it recorded over 50,000 daily orders in February, adding that this makes InstaHelp the fastest-scaling business unit in Urban Company’s history.

Shares of KNR Constructions gained over 12% to hit the session’s peak of ₹123.50 apiece on Monday, after the company over the weekend secured a ₹1,734 crore order from the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

In a regulatory filing, the company said that the NHAI has awarded it an order to build a four-lane highway extension of the NH-167 from Gudebellur to Mahabubnagar of the Hyderabad Panaji section under a Hybrid annuity mode in the state of Telangana.

Dilip Buildcon’s stock jumped as much as 3.19% to an intraday high of ₹398.50 per equity share, after it bagged an order worth ₹698.49 crore from the government of Gujarat.

In a regulatory filing dated Saturday, the company stated that it has received a letter of acceptance (LOA) from Narmada Water Resources Water Supply & Kalpasar Department, Government of Gujarat.

Under the LoA, the Bhopal-based firm will be required to construct the flood protection embankment on the Narmada River in the Bharuch district of Gujarat.

Shares of Coal India (CIL) advanced as much as 3.33% to the day’s peak of ₹459.90 per unit on the NSE, as it received a Letter of Award (LOA) from Telangana Power Generation Corporation Limited for setting up a 750 MWh (187.5 MW for 4 hours) BESS Plant at Choutuppal.

Coal India said that the letter of award (LoA) for setting up a 750 MWh (187.5 MW for 4 hours) BESS plant at Choutuppal @ ₹3.14 lakh/MW/month. The project is estimated to be executed within 18 months from the signing of BESPA. The estimated cost of the project is ₹1,057.09 crore.

The stock of Coal India's subsidiary Central Mine Planning & Design Institute (CMPDI) made a weak debut on the stock exchanges on Monday.

The stock listed at ₹160 apiece on the NSE, reflecting a discount of 6.98% against the IPO issue price of ₹172 apiece. On the BSE, the scrip started trading at ₹162.80, down 5.35% from the issue price.

The ₹1,842 crore initial public offering, with a price band of ₹163 to ₹172 per share, was exclusively an offer for sale (OFS) of 10.71 crore shares by promoter Coal India Ltd.

Shares of IRB Infrastructure Developers gained over 10% on Monday, March 30, as the stock began trading adjusted for the bonus issue of shares.

Last month, the company’s board had approved a bonus issue in the ratio of 1:1, which means shareholders will receive one fully paid-up bonus equity share of ₹1 for every (one) existing equity share of ₹1 held by them as of the record date.

IRB Infrastructure has fixed April 1, 2026, as the record date for the purpose of determining the shareholders eligible for issuance and allotment of bonus equity shares.