SENSEX down 225 pts, NIFTY50 below 25,700 in noon session; Hindustan Zinc, Vedanta among buzzing stocks

The Indian benchmark indices, SENSEX and NIFTY50, slipped into the negative territory during the afternoon session on Wednesday, December 17, amid weak global cues and a volatile rupee.

The SENSEX fell as much as 0.31% to an intra-day low of 84,415.98. Meanwhile, the NIFTY50 touched the session’s low of 25,784.95.

At 12:31 PM, the S&P BSE SENSEX fell by 225.79 points, or 0.27%, to 84,454.07, while NSE’s NIFTY50 was trading at 25,793.70, marking a 66.40 points, or 0.26% decline.

Shares of Max Healthcare Institute, which fell 3.04%, contributed to the decline of the NIFTY50 index. It was followed by SBI Life Insurance Company (-1.77%), HDFC Life Insurance Company (-1.67%), ICICI Bank (-1.16%) and HDFC Bank (-1.14%), which were among the top losers.

On the flipside, the top gainers included Shriram Finance (1.96%), State Bank of India (1.55%), Eicher Motors (1.32%), Hindalco Industries (1.19%) and Tata Consumer Products (1.03%).

Buzzing stocks on December 17: Check list

Hindustan Zinc stock rallied as much as 3.54% to hit a fresh record 52-week high of ₹587.80 per equity share, amid a sustained rally in silver prices.

In the international market, Comex silver (for January) jumped to a fresh record high, crossing the $66 per troy ounce mark.

Domestically, on the Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX), silver futures for March delivery surged as much as ₹8,188 or 4.14% to a lifetime high of ₹2,05,943 per kilogram on December 17.

Shares of Vedanta Ltd, the metals giant, surged as much as 1.92% to hit a fresh record high of ₹580.45 apiece on the NSE in the early trade on Wednesday.

This comes as the company on Tuesday said that the Mumbai Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has sanctioned the Scheme of Arrangement for the company’s demerger into four independent, pure-play businesses by an order dated December 16, 2025.

Vedanta said with this approval and subject to receipt of certain government and regulatory approvals and other stakeholder clearances, Vedanta enters the execution phase of a transformational demerger that will result in five separate listed companies (including already listed Vedanta Limited), each with a clear strategic mandate, focused management teams, and dedicated capital structures.

Indian Overseas Bank shares slipped as much as 4.54% to an intraday low of ₹34.91 apiece, as the government has decided to divest up to a 3% stake in the lender through an offer for sale (OFS).

At the current market price, the government would be able to garner about ₹2,100 crore by offloading up to a 3% stake in the bank.

The government proposes to sell up to 38.51 crore (385,131,796) shares, or 2% of the base offer size, with an option to additionally sell 19.25 crore (192,565,898) shares, representing 1% of the total issued and paid-up equity share capital of the bank, IOB said in a regulatory filing.

The stock of Kaynes Technology India rose as much as 3.11% to ₹4,317 per unit, after its wholly-owned subsidiary announced a strategic partnership with two Japan-based companies to strengthen India's semiconductor ecosystem.

Kaynes Semicon Pvt Ltd has tied up with global technology firms AOI Electronics Co Ltd (Japan) and Mitsui & Co Ltd (Japan) to boost its upcoming semiconductor manufacturing operations in India.

The shares of Shriram Finance advanced as much as 3.19% to a fresh 52-week high of ₹875.45 apiece, as the company's board will meet on Friday, December 19, 2025, to consider fundraising.

Ola Electric Mobility stock declined as much as 2.41% to an intra-day low of ₹33.65 per equity share on the NSE.

This comes on the back of a PTI report, which said that the company's founder, Bhavish Aggarwal, has undertaken a limited monetisation of his personal shareholding to fully release all promoter-level share pledges totalling ₹260 crore.

The PTI report that quoted its sources said the promoter-group holding will be over 34% after the limited stake monetisation, among the largest in the listed new-age cohorts.

Ola Electric is not expected to see further promoter pledges, as the current one was done to seed fund AI startup Krutrim, which has re-emerged as a cloud infra player with positive cash flows.

Shares of Meesho, the recently listed e-commerce firm, skyrocketed as much as 20% (its upper circuit limit) to hit an all-time high of ₹216.34 apiece, after a positive note by global investment firm UBS. The stock’s IPO issue price was ₹111.

According to news reports, UBS said that Meesho's asset-light, negative working capital business model has also ensured positive cash flows, unlike other internet businesses.

Analysts at UBS further said that Meesho's model net merchandise value (NMV) CAGR is 30% over FY25-30e, with contribution margin (CM) and adjusted EBITDA margin (as a % of NMV) reaching 6.8% and 3.2% by FY30e.

The stock of Akzo Nobel India slumped as much as 15% to hit the day's low of ₹3,080.20 per equity share, following block deals, as per news reports.

Earlier, news reports said that Imperial Chemical Industries was likely to sell up to 9% stake in the company via a block deal. The offer size was reported to be ₹1,290.6 crore, and the floor price was reported to be ₹3,150 per share.

According to a news report by CNBC-TV18, a large trade comprising 51.9 lakh shares, or 11.4% equity, worth ₹1,638.3 crore, changed hands at ₹3,159 per share via block deals.

Shares of Nephrocare Health Services Ltd made a tepid debut on the stock exchanges on Wednesday, December 17. The stock listed at ₹490 per unit on the NSE, reflecting a premium of 6.52% over the IPO issue price of ₹460 per share. On the BSE, the scrip started trading at ₹491.7, up 6.89% from the issue price.

Meanwhile, the stock of Park Medi World debuted at ₹158.8 per equity share on the NSE. This reflects a discount of 1.98% against the IPO issue price of ₹162. On the BSE, the stock listed at ₹155.60 per share, down 3.95% from the issue price.