Sensex, Nifty slump but check out the stocks that bucked the bearish trend

Indian stock markets slumped nearly 2% on Monday, pushed down by weak global cues and several local factors including weakness in Reliance Industries and One97 Communications Ltd, which owns Paytm.

The BSE’s 30-stock benchmark Sensex fell 1,170.12 points, or 1.96%, to close at 58,465.89. The NSE’s Nifty 50 dropped 348.25 points, or 1.96%, to 17,416.55. Market breadth was negative with 41 of the Nifty’s 50 stocks and all but three of the Sensex’s 30 stocks losing ground.

Mid-cap indices lost even more, with the BSE Mid-cap Index falling 2.62% while its Nifty Midcap 50 declining 2.96%.

Elsewhere in Asia, stock markets were mixed. While Hong Kong stocks fell, Shanghai markets rose and Japan was flat amid concerns related to inflation and Covid-19, especially after Austria decided to reimpose lockdowns.

In India, all eyes were on heavyweight Reliance Industries after the country’s biggest company scrapped a proposed multi-billion-dollar deal with Saudi Aramco. Reliance slumped 4.42%.

Paytm shares lost 13% after falling as much as 18.7% earlier in the day. The stock had plunged 27% on its debut Friday amid concerns of over-valuation and lack of a path to profitability.

However, some stocks in India bucked the trend and ended higher on Monday. Here’s a quick peek into these stocks.

Large-cap stocks

Mining giant Vedanta Ltd was the biggest large-cap gainer on Monday with its shares jumping 6.12% on the BSE. The stock benefited from news that the Supreme Court had allowed the government to sell its residual stake in Vedanta unit Hindustan Zinc Ltd.

Bharti Airtel was the second-biggest gainer after the telecom operator increased mobile tariffs by 20-25%. Airtel shares touched a record high in intraday trade and ended with a gain of 3.9%.

Indus Towers Ltd, the telecom tower company in which Airtel is the largest shareholder, rose 2.53%.

Other large-cap stocks that rose 1% or more were Asian Paints, JSW Steel and state-run Power Grid Corp. Piramal Enterprises, Havells, Hindalco, Cipla and Grasim were the other large-cap counters that ended in the green.

Mid-cap stocks

Telecom operator Vodafone Idea was the biggest mid-cap gainer, climbing 6.2%, as it also benefitted from positive sentiment toward mobile phone companies after Airtel’s tariff hike.

Emami Ltd, up 2.56%, and Gland Pharma, up 1.9%, were the other prominent mid-cap gainers.

Godrej Industries, JSW Energy, Procter & Gamble Health, Sun TV and IRFC were the other companies that gained in the mid-cap space. Overall, only nine of the 106 stocks that are part of the BSE Midcap managed to stay in the green.

Small-cap stocks

Elecon Engineering stole the limelight in the small-cap segment with its shares rising 6.13%. State-run MTNL came at No.2 with a gain of 5.84%.

ESAB India, Sastasundar, Trident, Brightcom Group, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd, Thermax, Shalimar Paints and HBL Power rose between 4.4% and 5.1%.

Overall, only 90 of the 894 stocks that are part of the BSE Smallcap Index clocked gains on Monday.