A total of 2,916 traded on the NSE on Friday, out of which 1,744 plunged, while only 1,100 stocks advanced. Furthermore, as many as 23 stocks hit their 52-week highs while 91 stocks touched their 52-week lows on February 21.

From the 50 stocks on the NIFTY50 index, Hindalco, Tata Steel, Eicher Motors, Larsen and Toubro (L&T) and SBI Life Insurance grew by as much as 2.09%, emerging as the top gainers. On the other hand, Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), Adani Ports, BPCL, Tata Motors and Adani Enterprises were the biggest losers, tanking by as much as 6.2%. Only 13 stocks on the index settled higher today, with as many as 37 stocks ending in the red.

Among Nifty sectoral indices, all ended in the red on Friday except for Nifty Metal.

Here is how the major Nifty sectors performed:

At the close on Friday, S&P BSE SENSEX stood at 75,311.06, down 424.9 points (0.56%). NSE's NIFTY50 index ended lower by 117.25 points, or 0.51%, at 22,795.90 on February 21.

At 3:04 pm today, Sensex is 1255.61 points (2.54%) down at 48,163.76, while Nifty is 0.57% down at 22,783.40.

Nifty Auto is down by 2.57% at 21,508.65 and Nifty Pharma is 1.86% down at 20,399.10. Nifty sectoral indices including Healthcare, Realty, Media, Oil & Gas and others are all down by over 1%.

NTPC Green Energy Limited shares are trading 0.25% up at ₹106.24 apiece on the NSE on Friday. Its market cap stands at ₹89,521.33 crore.

Six stocks from the NIFTY 500 pack have given investors the returns of their dreams, delivering over 100% returns in the past 12 months:

• BSE: 159% returns

• Godfrey Philips India: 121% returns

• Dixon Technologies: 110% returns

• Deepak Fertilisers: 103% returns

• Lloyds Metals & Energy: 106.5%

• Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders: 105% returns

Shares of Divi’s Laboratories on Friday plunged by nearly 4% following SBI Mutual Fund announced that it sold 140,560 shares of the company representing 0.0529% of Divi’s Labs' paid-up share capital on February 19 under various schemes.

After the cut in the company's stake, SBI Mutual Fund held a 1,35,40,292 or 5.1005% stake in the blue-chip pharma company.

Divi's Laboratories shares are currently trading 3.29% down at ₹5,781.50 apiece on the NSE on Friday, February 21.

At 1:11 pm, S&P BSE Sensex was trading 2.41% (1,190.30 points) down at 48,229.07, while Nifty was down nearly 0.6% at around 22,776.

Let's see some of the buzzing stocks of the day:

Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA) shares are trading higher by 4.22% at ₹181.09 apiece on the NSE on Friday. Its market capitalisation stands at ₹48,672.73 crore.

The scrip of IREDA gained over 2% on Thursday along with Tata Technologies after the NSE notified that it would introduce derivatives contracts for the two stocks from February 28. Tata Technologies shares, however, are trading marginally lower by 0.16% at ₹746.80 apiece.

Cyient Limited shares are trading 6.17% down at ₹1,363 apiece on the NSE on Friday. The company's market cap fell to ₹15,132.95 crore.

Cyient stock on Thursday rose by over 4% during the intraday trade after the company appointed Sukamal Banerjee as the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of its DET business. However, the shares ended 1.86% down at ₹1,449.00 apiece on February 20.

Many major stocks are expected to trade ex-dividend on Friday, February 21, including P&G Health, Manappuram Finance, Kirloskar Oil and SJVN.

Shares of JSW Energy jumped by over 6% during the intraday trade on Friday, reaching a high of ₹503.85 apiece on the NSE. The surge in the stock price was after the global brokerage firm Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on the stock with an ‘overweight rating'.

JSW Energy shares are currently trading 6.15% up at ₹497.35 apiece on the NSE, while the company's market capitalisation stands at ₹86,925.26 crore.

Cipla shares are trading flat with a negative bias on Friday, February 21, down 0.39% at ₹1,474 on the NSE.

The company on Thursday said that the United States Food and Drugs Administration (USFDA) conducted a current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) inspection at the analytical testing facility of Cipla's wholly-owned subsidiary Sitec Labs. Following the inspection, Sitec received two observations in Form 483. Cipla is committed to addressing these observations and will work closely with the USFDA, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Religare Enterprises shares jumped by over 9% on Friday, February 21 following the announcement of the company's acquisition by the Burman Group.

Religare Enterprises stock is currently trading 3.72% up at ₹231.30 apiece on the NSE.

BSE Auto is currently trading nearly 2.27%, or 1121.43 points, down at 48,297.94. Except for Eicher Motors and Bosch, all auto stocks on the index are trading in the red.

M&M is nearly 5% down at over ₹2699 apiece on the BSE, while TVS Motor is trading lower by over 3%. Other major auto stocks including Maruti, MRF, Hero Motor Corp and Bajaj Auto, among others, are lower on the BSE.

At 10:19 am today, S&P BSE Sensex was trading 520 points, or 0.69%, down at 75,215.57, while Nifty was at 22,770.75, trading lower by 0.62%.

On the NIFTY50 index, 29 out of 50 stocks were trading in the red. Top gainers on the index were Shriram Finance, Hindalco Industries, L&T, Eicher Motors and Bharti Airtel. Moreover, M&M, Dr Reddy's, Kotak Mahindra Bank, UltraTech Cement and Tata Motors were the top losers.

Benchmark indices are trading in the red today, February 21. NIFTY50 is 0.3%, or 67.6 points, down at 22,845.55. S&P BSE Sensex is trading 255.5 points, or 0.33%, lower at 75,473.06.