Paytm, RailTel, HG Infra, Zaggle Prepaid among buzzing stocks as SENSEX falls over 300 pts; NIFTY trades below 24,100

The Indian benchmark indices, SENSEX and NIFTY50, continued their downward trend during the trading session on Wednesday, August 19, amid a sell-off in defence and chemical stocks.

Furthermore, the domestic markets mirrored the weakness in global markets, tracking a surge in crude prices and bond yields.

Brent crude futures rose over $92 per barrel (bbl) due to supply uncertainty as conflicting messages from Iran and the United States on whether the Strait of Hormuz is open for transit.

The SENSEX dropped as much as 0.53% to hit an intraday low of 76,823.91. Meanwhile, the NIFTY50 declined as much as 0.53% to touch the session’s low of 24,027.90.

At 12:52 PM, the S&P BSE SENSEX fell by 332.90 points, or 0.43%, to 76,902.56, while NSE’s NIFTY50 stood at 24,052.25, down by 102.65 points, or 0.42%.

The NIFTY50 index was weighed down by selling in Coal India, Power Grid Corporation of India, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, and Bajaj Finance, which were among the top losers.

On the flip side, the top gainers included Eternal, HCL Technologies, JSW Steel, Wipro, and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries.

Buzzing stocks on August 19: Check list

Shares of Larsen & Toubro (L&T), NCC, J Kumar Infraprojects, Afcons Infrastructure and Titagarh Rail Systems were in focus on Wednesday, August 19, as the Maharashtra government on Tuesday approved the Metro Line 13, a 25-km-long corridor with 16 stations connecting Mira-Bhayandar with Vasai-Virar on Mumbai's outskirts. The estimated cost of the project is ₹17,724.99 crore.

In another major infrastructure decision, the government sanctioned a revised project cost of ₹10,502.36 crore for the eastern expansion of the Pune Ring Road, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said.

The stocks of Mahanagar Gas (MGL), Indraprastha Gas (IGL), and Adani Total Gas traded with notable gains on August 19, after the Centre approved an incentive scheme to accelerate the pace of domestic piped natural gas (PNG) connections from September 1, 2026.

Sugar stocks, including Balrampur Chini Mills, Triveni Engineering & Industries, Dhampur Sugar Mills, and a few others, were in the spotlight on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday, following a Bloomberg report that the Indian government might be planning to lower or remove the 100% import duty on sugar.

According to the report, officials are weighing several proposals to lower the tax on sugar imports ahead of the festival season, when domestic consumption typically rises. However, a decision regarding the proposals hasn’t been made yet.

Shares of H.G. Infra Engineering soared as much as 10.8% to hit an intraday high of ₹562.45 apiece on the NSE on Wednesday, August 19, after it bagged an order from REC Power Development and Consultancy Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of REC Ltd.

According to a regulatory filing dated Tuesday, the company said that it received a letter of intent (LOI) on August 18 for the construction of 220/132/33 kilovolt (kV) Air Insulated Switchgear (AIS) Substation in Ranipur (Mau), and 220/132/33kV AIS Substation in Chunar (Mirzapur), with their associated lines, through a tariff-based competitive bidding process in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

The stock of One97 Communications, the parent firm of Paytm, jumped as much as 3.8% to hit the session’s peak of ₹1,604.90 per equity share on Wednesday, as a clutch of foreign and domestic institutional investors, including Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, and Societe Generale, together on Tuesday bought a 3% stake in the fintech firm for ₹2,949 crore through open market transactions.

Other foreign investors that bought shares included Ghisallo Capital Management, Oxbow Capital Management, North Rock Capital Management, Viridian Asset Management, Vittoria Fund-OC - a hedge fund owned by Pathstone Family Office LLC, and Integrated Core Strategies (Asia) Pte Ltd.

Domestic institutional investors, including SBI Mutual Fund (MF), Aditya Birla Sun Life MF, HDFC MF, Kotak Mahindra MF, HSBC MF, Sundaram MF and Tata MF, also participated in the transaction.

RailTel Corporation of India shares rallied 7% to touch an intraday high of ₹297.60 apiece on the NSE, after the company secured an extension of a work order.

Worth ₹166.80 crore, the Navratna public sector undertaking (PSU) said it received a one-year extension of the work order from the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) for providing Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) through RailTel.

The order is expected to be completed by February 9, 2027. The latest order marks RailTel’s fourth order win in August 2026.

Zaggle Prepaid Ocean Services stock gained 15.1% to touch an early market high of ₹190.94 per equity share on August 19, as investors focused on the Vijay Kedia-run company purchasing a 1.48% stake in the listed entity via a bulk deal transaction, according to NSE data.

As per the NSE bulk deals data, Vijay Kedia-owned and operated Kedia Securities Private Ltd purchased a total of 20,00,000 or 20 lakh equity shares of Zaggle Prepaid through a bulk deal during Tuesday’s market hours.

The data further showed that Kedia Securities purchased the 20 lakh equity shares, which represent around 1.48% of the total outstanding shareholding of the company at a weighted average price of ₹164.72 apiece.

The stock of Behari Lal Engineering made a robust stock market debut on Wednesday, August 19. Shares of the iron and steel manufacturer were listed at ₹465 apiece on the NSE, reflecting a premium of 63.1% over the initial public offering (IPO) issue price of ₹285 apiece. On the BSE, Behari Lal Engineering stock started trading at ₹458, up 60.7% from the issue price.

Behari Lal Engineering IPO lot size was 52 shares and cost ₹14,820 for retail investors. Investors who received Behari Lal Engineering IPO allotment made ₹9,360 per lot, taking the value of their investment to ₹24180, as per the listing price on the NSE.

On the BSE, the listing day returns were slightly lower at ₹23,816 as the stock listed at ₹458 apiece.

Shares of e-commerce enablement platform Shiprocket Ltd made a strong debut on the stock exchanges. The stock started trading at ₹131 apiece on the NSE, reflecting a premium of 35.05% over the IPO issue price of ₹97 per share. On the BSE, it is listed at ₹129.50 per share, up 33.51% from the issue price.

A lot consisted of 154 shares and cost ₹14,938. Investors who received the Shiprocket IPO allotment made ₹20,174 per lot, taking the value of their investment to ₹5,236, as per the listing price on the NSE.

The ₹1,617.48 crore initial public offering consisted of new equity shares valued at ₹885.50 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of ₹731.98 crore.