Zee Entertainment, AB Real Estate, BEL, BPCL among buzzing stocks as NIFTY, SENSEX trade lower in noon deals

Benchmark equity indices NIFTY and SENSEX traded in red on Wednesday, May 20, due to elevated oil prices, weak global market trends and renewed fears of restart of military operations if Iran failed to reach a peace deal.

SENSEX was down 138 points to 75,062, while NIFTY fell 0.15% to 23,582 at 1:22 pm.

From the NIFTY firms, BEL, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, Shriram Finance, Nestle India, ITC, Eternal, Adani Enterprises and ICICI Bank were among the major laggards.

Hindalco, Reliance, Bajaj Auto, ONGC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Wipro, Bajaj Finserv, Apollo Hospital and NTPC were the top gainers.

Zee Entertainment

Shares of media conglomerate Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) declined as much as 6.68% to ₹81.82 apiece on the NSE after the company posted a consolidated net loss of ₹103.7 crore for Q4 FY 2025-26, on account of higher expenses.

It had posted a profit after tax of ₹188.4 crore in the January-March period a year ago.

Total income fell 5.36% year-on-year (YoY) to ₹2,101.1 crore in the reporting quarter.

Total expenses rose to ₹2,341.8 crore vs ₹1,958.4 crore in the fourth quarter of FY25.

Expenses climbed on account of "higher A&P (advertising and promotion) spends due to increased content offering (YoY) on Zee5, launch of KidZ and higher legal costs," said ZEEL in its investor presentation.

In the final quarter of FY26, the company's revenue from advertising descended 3.5% year-on-year (YoY) to ₹808 crore impacted by the West Asia crisis. However, its subscription revenue surged 3.87% YoY to ₹1,024.7 crore.

Bharat Electronics Ltd

The stock slipped up to 4.77% to ₹407 apiece on the NSE as earnings failed to impress investors. BEL recorded a consolidated profit after tax of ₹2,225.22 crore in the quarter under review, up 4.61% from ₹2,127.04 crore a year back.

Its revenue from operations stood at ₹10.224.43 crore in Q4 FY26 as against ₹9,149.59 crore in the last quarter of the 2024-25 fiscal year (Q4 FY25). This shows an YoY increase of 11.74%.

EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) grew 6% to ₹2,982 crore in the January-March quarter of the fiscal year 2026 from ₹2,816 crore in Q4 FY25.

The company's board also recommended a final dividend of ₹0.55 per share for FY26, subject to shareholders' approval in the ensuing Annual General Meeting (AGM).

Karnataka Bank

The bank's net-interest income climbed 7.8% to ₹843 crore for the quarter ending March 2026 as against ₹780 crore in the fourth quarter of FY25. This was due to lower interest expenses as the gross interest income remained flat at ₹2,257 crore compared to ₹2,258 crore in the previous year’s same quarter.

The bank’s operating profit advanced 64% YoY to ₹615 crore. On the asset quality, the bank’s gross non-performing assets (GNPA) ratio improved to 2.78% from 3.08%. The NNPA also improved to 0.98% from 1.3%.

Hindalco Industries

The stock was trading 2.9% higher at ₹1,078.70 per unit on the NSE.

On Tuesday, Novelis Inc, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Hindalco Industries Ltd, posted a consolidated net loss of USD 84 million for Q4 FY26 due to fire incidents at its plant in Oswego, New York.

"Net loss attributable to our common shareholder of USD 84 million, compared to a net income attributable to our common shareholder of USD 294 million in the prior year, impacted by Oswego, US, plant fires in September and November," the company said in a statement.

"The decrease was due primarily to USD 630 million in pre-tax net losses related to the Oswego fires," it added.

However, the consolidated net sales grew to USD 4,787 million from USD 4,587 million in the year-ago period.

BPCL

The company's standalone post-tax profit remained flat at ₹3,191.49 crore in the latest fourth quarter due to an impairment loss of ₹4,349 crore on its upstream assets.

The firm had reported a net profit of ₹7,545.27 crore in the year-ago period.

"During FY 2025-26, (BPCL's wholly-owned upstream subsidiary) Bharat PetroResources Ltd has impaired investments due to a change in prospects of its blocks," it said.

Accordingly, "an impairment loss of ₹4,349.13 crore has been recognised based on the value of in use of assets as on March 31, 2026."

Its revenue from operations rose 6.33% to ₹1,34,896.40 crore in reporting quarter, compared to ₹1,26.864.93 crore a year back.

Aditya Birla Real Estate

Aditya Birla Real Estate shares were trading 0.87% lower at ₹1,260.20 per unit on the NSE.

In an exchange filing on Wednesday, the company said that its wholly-owned subsidiary Birla Estates achieved ₹1,007 crore sales bookings at the Birla Taranya, Thane residential project due to solid customer response and robust market demand for the development.

"The strong traction further reinforces Birla Estates’ growing presence in the MMR market and its commitment to developing premium, thoughtfully designed residential communities," it said.