Top Nifty gainers & losers at mid-day: Hindalco, UltraTech up, Sun Pharma, Eicher slip

Indian equity benchmarks continued to exhibit a muted trend as of afternoon trade on December 12 despite hovering near their record high levels. Investors chose to take home partial profits following the bull run in recent weeks, keeping momentum subdued in today’s session. At 12:48 pm, the Sensex was down 80.46 points or 0.12 percent at 69,848.07, and the Nifty was down 18.20 points or 0.09 percent at 20,978.90. About 1672 shares advanced, 1516 shares declined, and 89 shares unchanged.

Hindalco Ltd: Shares of the aluminium and copper major surged over 2 percent to Rs 534 after the company planned Rs 800 crore investment to set up battery foil manufacturing unit in Odisha. The company will deploy an investment of up to Rs 800 crore for the new battery foil plant which will be commissioned by July 2025. The plant will initially produce 25,000 tonnes of the resilient product which forms the backbone of Lithium-ion and Sodium-ion cells.

UltraTech Cement Ltd: The shares of the company soared 2.2 percent to Rs 9,889 on December 12, rallying for the fourth trading session in a row. About 4 lakh shares changed hands, matching the 1-month average.

HDFC Life Insurance Company Ltd: Shares of the company rose 2 percent at Rs 686, rallying for the second day in a row. In November, The premium for HDFC Life saw a decline of 21 percent year-on-year, with the Individual APE down by 4 percent compared to the previous year.

Bajaj Auto Ltd: Shares of the two-wheeler and three-wheeler major gained nearly 2 percent at Rs 6,25, extending gains for the second day in a row. Volumes were positive today as 6 lakh shares exchanged hands against the 1-week average of 4 lakh shares.

Hero MotorCorp Ltd: Shares of Harley Davidson maker gained 1.4 percent to Rs 3,757 on December 12. It recently entered into an agreement with Ather Energy for an interoperable fast-charging network in India, according to a press release. Through this collaboration, EV users will be able to seamlessly use both VIDA and Ather Grids across the country. The combined network will cover 100 cities with over 1900 fast-charging points.

BPCL Ltd: Shares of the petroleum major fell 3.3 percent to Rs 450 on December 12 as the stock traded ex-dividend. The company has declared an interim dividend of Rs 21 apiece. Volumes were low as 65 lakh shares changed hands as against the 1-week average of 1 crore shares.

Sun Pharmaceuticals Ltd: Shares of the pharma major fell 1.3 percent to Rs 1,224. The drop comes after the company updated its offer price to acquire all the outstanding shares of its US-based arm Taro Pharma. The price of the offer has been raised to $43 per share, over the earlier proposal of $38 per share, marking a 13 percent rise in the offer price.

Eicher Motors Ltd: Shares of the Royal Enfield maker fell 1.2 percent to Rs 3,974 on December 12, extending losses for the third day in a row. Volumes were high as 8 lakh shares changed hands, above the 1-month average of 7 lakh shares.

Titan Company Ltd: Shares of the Tata-backed company fell close to 1 percent to Rs 3,598. Volumes were low as 5 lakh shares changed hands, lower than the 1-week average of 9 lakh shares.

Larsen and Toubro Ltd: Shares of the construction major fell 0.8 percent to Rs 3,358 on December 12, snapping its two-day gaining streak on the bourses.