Shiprocket, Hyundai India, HDFC Bank among buzzing stocks as SENSEX gains over 600 pts; NIFTY trades above 24,200

Benchmark indices, SENSEX and NIFTY50, were trading in positive territory during the afternoon session on Thursday, August 20, with the NIFTY snapping its seven-day losing streak, amid positive global cues and buying in media and capital market stocks.

Investor sentiment improved amid foreign fund inflow, a decline in US bond yields, an appreciation in the rupee, and value buying.

The SENSEX rallied as much as 0.9% to hit an intraday high of 77,609.54, while the NIFTY50 surged as much as 0.8% to touch the session’s high of 24,265.15.

At 1:12 PM, the S&P BSE SENSEX gained by 645.31 points, or 0.84%, to trade at 77,554.99. Meanwhile, NSE’s NIFTY50 stood at 24,244.45, registering a 166.15-point, or 0.69% jump.

On Wednesday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased shares worth ₹407.99 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹3,973.72 crore on a net basis, according to exchange data.

The NIFTY50 index was bolstered by buying in Kotak Mahindra Bank, Eternal, Shriram Finance, Bajaj Finance and Bharti Airtel, which were among the top gainers.

On the other hand, the top losers included Hindalco Industries, Apollo Hospitals Enterprises, Tata Steel, HCL Technologies and Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).

Buzzing stocks on August 20: Check list

Sugar stocks like Balrampur Chini, Dalmia Bharat Sugar, Avadh Sugar and Triveni Engineering, among others, rallied on Thursday, August 20, amid elevated prices and high market demand as investors focused on the central government's update on limiting stockholding for bulk buyers.

In an official order on August 19, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution announced that the government is imposing up to a 15-day stockholding limit for bulk buyers of sugar in an effort to cool down domestic prices and curb quantity hoarding.

This follows a Bloomberg report, which stated that the Indian government might be planning to lower or remove the 100% import duty on sugar. Reportedly, Indian government officials are considering proposals to lower or scrap the 100% tax on inbound sugar shipments as domestic prices hit a record high. The move also aims to contain supply pressures, Bloomberg said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Shares of Unicommerce Esolutions and Urban Company were trading in the green zone on Thursday, August 20, as the two companies plan to expand their partnership to the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

According to a regulatory filing, Urban Company’s Middle East arm has partnered with Unicommerce to power its e-commerce operations across Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

“As Urban Company expands its footprint across the Middle East, it will leverage Unicommerce's flagship platform, Uniware, to manage its inventory and fulfilment operations that support its at-home service ecosystem,” the filing read.

The platform will help Urban Company maintain real-time visibility of inventory and route orders for service kits and consumables intelligently to ensure reliable deliveries to service professionals across the region, it stated.

The stock of HDFC Bank advanced 1% on August 20, as the private sector lender on Wednesday, in its filing to stock exchanges, said that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), vide its letter dated August 19, 2026, has accorded its approval to LIC for acquiring an aggregate holding up to 9.99% of the paid-up share capital or voting rights in HDFC Bank.

As per the latest available beneficial position, i.e., as on August 14, 2026, LIC holds 4.11% of the bank's total share capital.

The filing added that the approval has been granted with reference to the application made by LIC to RBI.

"The aforesaid approval granted by RBI is subject to the conditions mentioned therein including compliance with the relevant provisions of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, Reserve Bank of India (Commercial Banks - Acquisition and Holding of Shares or Voting Rights) Directions, 2025, provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, regulations issued by Securities and Exchange Board of India, and any other statutes, regulations and guidelines, as applicable," it added.

Shares of Ceigall India advanced as much as 6.4% to hit an intraday high of ₹333.80 per unit in early trade on Thursday, as the company’s joint venture (JV) with Rajinder Infrastructure Private Ltd secured an order worth ₹274.08 crore in Arunachal Pradesh from the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH).

The JV, in which Ceigall holds a 70% stake, was awarded the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) package for the construction of the 17.81 km to 55.38 km of the Bile-Migging section of the National Highway (NH)-913, to intermediate lane standards, according to a regulatory filing dated August 18.

The stock of Hyundai Motor India rose as much as 2% to hit an intraday high of ₹2,218 per unit on the NSE on Thursday, August 20, as the automaker said that it plans to increase the prices of its vehicles by up to 1% across its portfolio.

The company said that the quantum of increase will vary depending on the model and variant, according to a regulatory filing dated August 19.

The auto manufacturing firm further stated that the price revision has been necessitated by a combination of rising input and commodity costs, higher operational expenses, and continuing geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainties, among other factors.

Shiprocket shares gained as much as 9.4% to hit the session’s peak of ₹155.69 apiece on Thursday’s market, as investors focused on global investment major Goldman Sachs picking up a stake in the company through a bulk deal transaction.

The logistics solutions provider’s shares made a strong debut on the domestic stock exchanges on Wednesday, August 19, marking a listing premium over its issue price as investors focused on the company’s infrastructure push plans.

NSE bulk deal data showed that global investment firm Goldman Sachs purchased 40,24,040 (over 40 lakh) equity shares through its entity named Goldman Sachs India Equity Portfolio, during the trading session on Wednesday, August 19.

The investment firm purchased the stake for a weighted average price of ₹131 apiece, as per the exchange data. This is the same price at which the company's shares were listed on the National Stock Exchange.

The stock of Aditya Birla Capital jumped as much as 3.6% to reach the session’s peak of ₹410.20 per equity share, after the company said it has forayed into the gold loan business.

The company's NBFC business entered into the Gold Loan business, marking a strategic expansion of its secured lending portfolio, according to a regulatory filing.

“The Gold Loan offering complements its existing retail and MSME lending franchise, providing customers with a transparent, flexible and collateral-backed credit solution,” the filing stated.

The company further added that it planned a phased rollout of 200-300 dedicated gold loan branches by March 2027, which it further plans to expand to 1000 branches in the coming three years.

Strides Pharma Sciences shares rallied 10% to an intraday high of ₹1,056 apiece on Thursday, August 20, after the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) ended its inspection at its Bengaluru facility.

In a regulatory filing, Strides said that its flagship manufacturing facility in Bengaluru has received the Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) from USFDA, indicating the successful closure of the inspection conducted at the facility.

The facility is Strides’ flagship manufacturing site and serves regulated and other international markets.

The USFDA conducted a current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) inspection of the facility from May 12 to May 20, 2026. Earlier, the pharma company had said that the inspection was concluded with the issuance of a Form 483 that contained five observations.

The stock of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) was trading in positive territory on Thursday, August 20, as the company’s transportation infrastructure business vertical, in consortium with Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), bagged a large order to design and build the Automated People Mover (APM) System for Phase 1 of Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai.

As per L&T's order classification lexicon, a large order is defined as one ranging from ₹2,500 to ₹5,000 crore.

The scope of work for the MHI-L&T consortium encompasses the turnkey delivery of a fully integrated APM System, including design, construction, supply, testing, commissioning and operational readiness of all associated infrastructure and systems, according to a regulatory filing.