NIFTY50 below 23,750, SENSEX slumps over 400 pts in noon session; Adani Enterprises, OMCs, Eternal among buzzing stocks

The Indian benchmark indices were trading in negative territory, tracking losses of their Asian peers, as crude oil prices globally crossed the $100 a barrel mark, sending fears of inflationary pressure among market participants.

Furthermore, investor sentiment also declined amid the liquified petroleum gas (LPG) shortage in India. Meanwhile, the rupee depreciated 31 paise to 92.32 against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday, pressured by FII outflows.

The SENSEX tanked by as many as 992.53 points to an intraday low of 75,871.18. Meanwhile, the NIFTY50 touched the session’s low of 23,556.30.

At 12:28 PM, the S&P BSE SENSEX fell by 423.84 points, or 0.55%, to 76,439.87, while NSE’s NIFTY50 was trading at 23,744.20, marking a 122.65 points, or 0.51% decline.

On Wednesday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹6,267.31 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹4,965.53 crore on a net basis, according to exchange data.

The top losers in the NIFTY50 index were Eicher Motors, which fell 3.69%, Mahindra & Mahindra (-3.61%), Maruti Suzuki (-2.71%), Trent (-2.37%) and UltraTech Cement (-2.29%).

On the contrary, the top gainers included Coal India (3.91%), Adani Enterprises (1.92%), NTPC (1.79%), Power Grid Corporation of India (1.44%) and Reliance Industries (1.27%).

Buzzing stocks on March 12: Check list

Shares of food-delivery companies such as Swiggy and Eternal declined on Thursday, March 12, as they’re indirectly exposed to the domestic gas shortage owing to a supply disruption due to the US-Israel-Iran war.

If restaurants shut down temporarily due to LPG shortages, order volumes and restaurant availability on these platforms may decline, potentially affecting revenues. Analysts at CLSA have cautioned that India’s energy supply chain could face disruptions due to the ongoing conflict involving Iran, with LPG supplies seen as the most vulnerable, followed by LNG.

Shares of oil marketing companies (OMCs), including Indian Oil, BPCL and HPCL, among others, were trading mixed on Thursday, after oil prices surged amid the war in West Asia.

Oil prices surged more than 8% on Thursday, with Brent crude touching the $100-per-barrel mark, as traders remained sceptical that the release of government stockpiles would be enough to offset the massive supply shock caused by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate jumped 8.8% to around $95 per barrel, while Brent was trading about 8.9% higher near $100, even after the International Energy Agency announced the largest emergency release of crude reserves in its history.

The IEA said on Wednesday that its 32 member nations would release 400 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves, marking the biggest coordinated drawdown since the agency was formed following the 1973 oil embargo.

Shares of home appliance makers, including TK Prestige, Butterfly Gandhimathi, and Stove Kraft, continued their surge on Thursday, amid the LPG shortage in India.

Due to the conflict between the United States and Iran, the supply of crude oil and natural gas has been constrained over the strategic control of the Strait of Hormuz, a key maritime trade passage for global energy.

Hence, this conflict has weighed on crude oil prices and the availability of natural gas like LPG in India, which imports nearly 85 to 90% of its LPG from the West Asian Gulf nations, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The stock of VA Tech Wabag jumped as much as 3% to an intraday high of ₹1,285.90 per equity share on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), after the company received a Letter of Award (LoA) from the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB).

In an exchange filing, the company said the mega order, which is above ₹1,000 crore, is for the refurbishment, financing, operation, maintenance, and transfer of a 45 MLD (million litres per day) tertiary treatment reverse osmosis plant in Chennai's Kodungaiyur area. It will be executed under the public-private partnership mode.

Shares of Omnitech Engineering advanced as much as 6.24% to ₹222 apiece on Thursday, March 12, as the company secured a ₹920 crore contract.

In an exchange filing, the company said that it has bagged an international contract via a Master Purchase Agreement from Weatherford Products GmbH. It will be executed in five years.

Enviro Infra Engineers' stock rallied as much as 11.05% to the session’s peak of ₹170 per equity share, on bagging an order worth ₹411.08 crore under AMRUT 2.0 for EPC of Aurangabad Sewerage Network and STP Scheme.

In a regulatory filing, the company stated that it received the order from Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd.

Acme Solar Holdings’s shares surged as much as 5.73% to an intraday high of ₹243.44 per unit on the NSE, as it signed two Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with SJVN for a total capacity of 450 MW/1,800 MWh, through its subsidiary, ACME Greentech Seventh Private Limited.

It said that the tender (Tranche-FDRE-4) was issued under Tariff-Based Competitive Bidding (TBCB) guidelines, for which an e-reverse auction was held on October 9, 2025, and a Letter of Award (LOA) was received on November 10, 2025.

The stock of Adani Enterprises advanced as much as 2.58% to the day’s peak of ₹2,025.70 apiece, as its wholly owned subsidiary, ADSTL, completed the acquisition of 14.2% effective shareholding in Air Works India (Engineering) Private Ltd (Air Works) in accordance with the terms of the SPA.

ADSTL already held an 85.76% in Air Works, and this acquisition has increased its stake in the latter to 99.98%.