SENSEX slumps 618 pts, NIFTY50 below 24,600 in noon session; BEL, IndiGo among buzzing stocks

The Indian benchmark indices, SENSEX and NIFTY50, were trading in the negative territory during the afternoon session on Friday, March 6, amid a sell-off in US markets as the Iran war showed no signs of de-escalation. It was also dragged down by losses in realty and private bank stocks.

The SENSEX slumped by as many as 670.23 points to reach an intraday low of 79,345.67. Meanwhile, the NIFTY50 touched the session’s low of 24,575.15.

At 12:36 PM, the S&P BSE SENSEX fell by 617.90 points, or 0.77%, to 79,398, while NSE’s NIFTY50 stood at 24,593.95, marking a 171.95 points, or 0.69% decline.

On Thursday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold stocks worth ₹3,752.52 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased equities worth ₹5,153.37 crore on a net basis, according to exchange data.

Shares of Max Healthcare Institute, which fell 2.57%, contributed to the decline in the NIFTY50 index. It was followed by ICICI Bank (-2.42%), Eternal (-2.35%), IndiGo (-2.27%), and Larsen and Toubro (-2.15%), which were among the top losers.

On the flipside, the top gainers included Bharat Electronics (2.94%), Reliance Industries (1.96%), NTPC (1.71%), Grasim Industries (0.98%) and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (0.82%).

Buzzing stocks on March 6: Check list

Mazagon Dock shares rallied nearly 9% intraday to hit an intraday high of ₹2,560 apiece on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday, March 6, after the company issued clarification through an exchange filing on a defence contract worth ₹99,000 crore.

In a filing on March 5, the company said the share price surge is due to completed CNC (Contract Negotiation Committee) talks with the government for a ₹99,000 crore defence contract. The proposal has now been taken up for approval by the competent authority, which indicates the contract is still awaiting official approval.

As per a Business Today report, this new defence contract is likely to be for six German submarines of Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) for the Indian Navy to be made in India by Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL) in Mumbai.

The stock of Bharat Electronics (BEL) advanced as much as 3% to the session’s peak of ₹472.85 per equity share, as it was trading ex-dividend date today on March 6.

The company’s board of directors, at its meeting held February 27, 2026, had declared an interim dividend of ₹1.95 per equity share of ₹1 each fully paid-up (195%) for FY26.

Initially, it had set March 5 as the record date, but it was later revised to March 6.

Shares of DCX Systems gained as much as 17.29% to an intraday high of ₹208.49 per unit on the NSE, as it secured an order from HAL to manufacture and supply custom-made antennas and power supplies for the airborne application.

In a regulatory filing dated March 5, it stated that the order is valued at ₹68.05 crore.

Shares of InterGlobe Aviation, the parent company of IndiGo, fell for a sixth straight session on Friday, barring a pause in the previous session.

The stock has come under pressure ever since it suspended its flight operations in the Middle East.

Earlier this week, IndiGo informed exchanges that owing to airspace restrictions over Iran and the Middle East, it cancelled more than 500 flights to the Middle East and select international destinations have been cancelled between February 28, 2026, and March 3, 2026.

Fractal Analytics stock rose as much as 8.8% to ₹826 apiece on the NSE, as it reported a 10.56% year-on-year (YoY increase in its consolidated net profit attributable to owners of the company at ₹102.6 crore in the third quarter of the current fiscal year.

Its net profit stood at ₹92.8 crore in the year-ago period.

Its revenue from operations climbed 20.81% to ₹854.4 crore in Q3 FY26, compared to ₹707.2 crore in the December quarter of the previous fiscal year.

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL) shares rose as much as 4.31% to the session’s peak of ₹204.70 apiece, as it clarified that it has not declared any “FORCE MAJEURE”.

Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) stock surged as much as 6.93% to an intraday high of ₹2,576 apiece.

This comes as it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kalyani Strategic Systems Ltd to jointly develop and promote indigenous solutions for advanced naval systems, unmanned platforms, and other strategic maritime capabilities for domestic and global markets.