Top Nifty gainers & losers: Adani Ports, Power Grid rally, Apollo Hospitals, ONGC slip

 After posting stellar gains for the past seven sessions, the benchmark indices took some breather on December 7 with Nifty falling below 20,900 amid selling in the capital goods, FMCG, Information Technology and metal stocks. At the close, the Sensex was down 132.04 points or 0.19 percent at 69,521.69, and the Nifty was down 36.50 points or 0.17 percent at 20,901.20. About 2120 shares advanced, 1509 shares declined, and 116 shares unchanged.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones Ltd: The port major surged over 2.2 percent to Rs 1,040, extending gains for the fifth day. The surge came after multiple media reports suggest that the company is in advanced talks to acquire Shapoorji Pallonji Group’s (SP) Gopalpur Ports in Odisha.

Power Grid Corp Ltd: The share surged 2.5 percent to Rs 230, rallying for the fifth day. On December 7, the state-owned power major was declared as the successful bidder for a Khavda RE park project.

UltraTech Cement Ltd: The Aditya Birla Group company gained 1.6 percent to Rs 9,354, bouncing back after declining 1.3 percent in the previous session. About 2 lakh shares changed hands, lower than the one-week daily average of 5 lakh.

Cipla Ltd: Shares of the pharmaceutical major gained 1.5 percent to Rs 1,222. About 14 lakh shares changed hands as against the 1-week average of 20 lakh shares on the bourses.

Grasim Industries Ltd: Shares of the Aditya Birla Group Company 1.2 percent to Rs 2,081.

Bharti Airtel Ltd: Shares of the telecom major slipped 2.4 percent to Rs 1,000 on after 1.8 crore shares, or 0.8 percent stake, worth Rs 1,856 crore changed hands. Moneycontrol couldn’t immediately identify the buyer or the seller but a day earlier, reports said global private equity firm Warburg Pincus was looking to offload stake in the telecom giant, as it continues to pare its holdings in several Indian companies.

ONGC Ltd: Shares of the oil and gas major fell 1.5 percent to Rs 199 as the global benchmark Brent crude slipped to its lowest levels in five months. Brent prices have declined for five straight sessions, falling 11 percent to slip below the $75 a barrel mark on a surprising surge in US gasoline inventories, which, along with prevailing concerns over lagging demand, dented sentiment.

Hindustan Unilever Ltd: Shares of the FMCG bellwether declined 2 percent to Rs 2,518 after global brokerage firm Jefferies shared a ‘hold’ rating on the counter, cutting the target price to Rs 2,563 from Rs 2,720. Highlighting the rationale behind their target downgrade, analysts at Jefferies said the growth pick-up remained elusive for HUL.

Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Ltd: Shares of the healthcare major declined 1.5 percent to Rs 5,461 on December 7. Recently, multiple media reports accused Apollo of being involved in a “cash for kidneys” scandal involving villagers from Myanmar. Reports alleged that young villagers from Myanmar were being flown to its Delhi hospital and lured into selling their kidneys to rich Burmese patients.

Tata Steel Ltd: Shares of one India’s largest steel producer tanked 1.4 percent to Rs 130. It was the most downgraded stock over the last quarter amid concerns over factors including global economic uncertainty, delays in the company’s capital investment plan, expansion plans, and specific operational aspects.