The Indian equity benchmarks extended losses in afternoon trading on Wednesday, August 19, as surging crude prices in international markets dented investor sentiment. According to reports from The Economic Times, the SENSEX fell as much as 412 points and the NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 24,027, dragged down by losses in index heavyweights including ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, Reliance Industries and ITC. As of 1:23 pm, the SENSEX was down 384 points to 76,852 and the NIFTY50 index declined 114 points to 24,041.
Shares of the hospital chain operator fell as much as 6.32% to hit an intraday high of ₹766 amid spike in trading activity. According to reports from The Economic Times, trading volumes on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) jumped by 100.9 times to 7.09 crore shares compared with an average volume of 7.03 lakh shares. The trading activity was significantly higher than the 57.55 lakh shares that changed hands compared with an average of 1.64 lakh shares traded daily in the past two weeks. As per Business Standard, the stock slipped 1.59% to ₹805.00 with volumes registering 718.26 lakh shares by 14:14 IST on NSE, a 71.76 fold spurt over the two-week average daily volume of 10.01 lakh shares, compared with 6.06 lakh shares in the previous session.
Shares of Indian Railways-owned telecom services provider rose as much as 7.34% to hit an intraday high of ₹297.50 after the company informed exchanges that it won an order from EPFO worth ₹166 crore. As reported by The Economic Times, trading volume on the NSE jumped by 35.6 times to 99.53 lakh shares compared with an average volume of 2.79 lakh shares. The trading activity was significantly higher than the 5.86 lakh shares that changed hands on the BSE compared with an average of 28,000 shares traded daily in the past two weeks. According to Business Standard, the stock gained 4.04% to ₹288.35 with volumes clocking 102.26 lakh shares by 14:14 IST on NSE, a 29.8 times surge over the two-week average daily volume of 3.43 lakh shares, compared with 3.25 lakh shares in the previous session.
Shares of the Adani Group's city gas distribution company rose as much as 6.2% to hit an intraday high of ₹687.90, mirroring gains in other city gas distribution companies after Centre approved an incentive scheme to accelerate domestic piped natural gas (PNG) connections from September 1, 2026. According to reports from The Economic Times, trading volume jumped by 13 times to 66.95 lakh shares compared with an average volume of 5.14 lakh shares. The scheme aims to speed up the conversion of unbilled PNG connections into active, billed households while encouraging city gas distribution (CGD) companies to expand their networks into new areas. As per Business Standard, the stock rose 3.10% to ₹667.35 with volumes notching up 73.63 lakh shares by 14:14 IST on NSE, a 13.71 fold spurt over the two-week average daily volume of 5.37 lakh shares, compared with 3.43 lakh shares in the previous session.
Quadrant Future Tek Limited has received a significant boost with a Letter of Acceptance dated March 26, 2025, for a new work order worth ₹1,55,93,09,000 (including taxes) from RailTel Corporation of India Ltd for Supply, Installation and Commissioning of Kavach (Indigenous Train Collision Avoidance System) Systems at East Central Railway. This project involves the provision of Kavach systems on railway tracks covering 502.2 RKM and 71 railway stations. As per Enviro Infra Engineers, the stock was last trading at ₹517.55 compared to the previous close of ₹536.45, with 170,774 shares traded in over 4,205 trades during the day. The stock hit an intraday high of ₹542.00 and intraday low of ₹511.10, with net turnover of ₹89.49 crore.
