Indian markets slumped today. Nifty 50 closed at 18,266.60 (-152.2, -0.8%) , BSE Sensex closed at 61,259.96 (-456.1, -0.7%) while the broader Nifty 500 closed at 15,568.65 (-189.2, -1.2%)

Market breadth is highly negative. Of the 1,800 stocks traded today, 315 were gainers and 1,451 were losers.

• Varroc Engineering, eClerx Services, Emami, and RHI Magnesita India are trading with higher delivery volumes compared to Tuesday.

• ICICI Securities maintains an ‘Add’ rating on Hindustan Unilever, with a target price upside of 6%. The brokerage expects double-digit volume growth in the nutrition business to boost revenues in H2FY22.

• ICICI Securities' Q2FY22 revenue increases by 25.8% YoY to Rs 856.4 crore, with net profits up by 26.2% to Rs 351 crore.

• Nomura India buys 13.5 lakh shares of Clean Science & Technology taking a 1.3% stake in the chemicals maker in Q2FY22.

• Cement major ACC's revenue grows by 5% YoY to Rs 3,653 crore in the September quarter, with net profits of 450 crore, up by 24% YoY.

• Sunil Singhania's Abakkus Fund sells 18 lakh shares of IIFL Securities, lowing its stake in the company to 3.1% in Q2FY22 from 3.7% in Q1FY22.

• Vijay Kedia sells 0.65% stake (1.3 lakh shares) in Lykis, decreasing his stake in the company to 9.3% (1.8 lakh shares) worth ? 6.1 Cr in Q2FY22.

• PNB Housing Finance, Navin Fluorine International, ACC, and Indus Towers are trading with more than four times their weekly average trading volume.

• Reliance Industries’ subsidiary Reliance Retail Ventures acquires 52% stake in Ritu Kumar’s Ritika Pvt. The company also acquired a 40% stake in Manish Malhotra’s MM Styles earlier this week.

• Nestle India's revenue in the September quarter rose by 9.6% YoY to Rs 3,865 crore, with net profits up by 5.2% to Rs 617.8 crore.

• ICICI Mutual Fund buys 5.5 lakh shares of Krsnaa Diagnostics, 22 lakh shares of Chemplast Sanmar, and 23 lakh shares of G R Infraprojects in Q2FY22.

• HDFC Asset Management Company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Piyush Surana submits his resignation. He will step down in January 2022. Navin Fluorine International’s CFO Ketan Sablok resigns with immediate effect.

• Bharti Airtel launches Airtel IQ Video, a platform that allows companies to build video streaming products. The management expects this platform to generate revenues of $1 million (Rs 750 crore) in its first phase.

• L&T Technology Services’ Q2FY22 revenue grows by 5.9% QoQ to Rs 1,607.7 crore, with net profits up by 6.3% to Rs 230 crore.

• Nifty 50 was trading at 18,372.25 (-46.5, -0.3%) , BSE Sensex was trading at 61,707.49 (-8.6, -0.0%) while the broader Nifty 500 was trading at 15,648.50 (-109.4, -0.7%)

• Market breadth is highly negative. Of the 1,729 stocks traded today, 232 were on the uptick, and 1,450 were down.

Riding High:

Largecap and midcap gainers today include Vodafone Idea Ltd. (10.60, 6.00%), Union Bank of India (47.70, 5.07%) and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (72.90, 4.74%).

Downers:

Largecap and midcap losers today include Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Ltd. (4434.35, -18.71%), Jubilant Foodworks Ltd. (3965.20, -8.45%) and Aarti Industries Ltd. (1013.25, -8.07%).

Volume Shockers

16 stocks in BSE 500 are trading on high volumes today.

Top high volume gainers on BSE included Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd. (289.30, 7.13%), Metropolis Healthcare Ltd. (2907.55, 5.73%) and Balmer Lawrie & Company Ltd. (133.15, 2.78%).

Top high volume losers on BSE were Deepak Nitrite Ltd. (2555.10, -12.67%), Navin Fluorine International Ltd. (3502.40, -9.33%) and Jubilant Foodworks Ltd. (3965.20, -8.45%).

Indus Towers Ltd. (303.00, 2.73%) was trading at 5.9 times of weekly average. PNB Housing Finance Ltd. (547.65, -5.00%) and ACC Ltd. (2263.60, 0.93%) were trading with volumes 5.8 and 5.3 times weekly average respectively on BSE at the time of posting this article.

BSE 500: highs, lows and moving averages

12 stocks hit their 52 week highs, while 1 stock tanked below their 52 week lows.

Stocks touching their year highs included - Bata India Ltd. (2085.40, -1.58%), ICICI Bank Ltd. (745.85, -0.21%) and Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd. (289.30, 7.13%).

Stock making new 52 weeks lows included - Strides Pharma Science Ltd. (542.70, -2.95%).

4 stocks climbed above their 200 day SMA including Balmer Lawrie & Company Ltd. (133.15, 2.78%) and Shree Cements Ltd. (27457.40, -0.86%). 25 stocks slipped below their 200 SMA including Rallis India Ltd. (282.45, -7.12%) and Graphite India Ltd. (579.70, -4.09%).