Top Gainers & Losers: Asian Paints shares rise on easing crude oil price; Bharti Airtel slips by 2%

Top Gainers & Losers: The Indian market continued its losing streak for the fifth straight session on Wednesday. The BSE Sensex trimmed all its early gains to close down by 344 points at a five-month low, while Nifty50 closed below 17,000 – a crucial psychological milestone.

The frontline indices witnessed a decline today mainly due to heavy selling in banking, financial, and telecom stocks as lingering concerns over banks' health and high inflation dented sentiments.

BSE Sensex closed lower by 344.29 points or 0.59 per cent at 57,555.90 and NSE Nifty declined 71.15 points or 0.42 per cent to end at 16,972.15, with 28 of its stocks ending with losses. Read more on the March 15 session in the Indian share market

In Nifty, Bharti Airtel was the biggest loser, shedding nearly 2 per cent, followed by IndusInd Bank, Reliance Industries, HUL and SBI. On the other hand, Asian Paints, Tata Steel, and Titan were among the gainers, rising up to 3 per cent.

Meanwhile, the rupee slipped 25 paise to close at 82.62 against the US dollar today and international oil benchmark Brent crude gained 0.72 per cent to USD 78.01 per barrel.

Here are some of the blue-chip stocks that moved the most on March 15:

Asian Paints

Paint major Asian Paints on Wednesday ended as a top gainer on Sensex; the stock settled at Rs 2,829.4 per share, up over 3 per cent from Tuesday’s closing of Rs 2746.25 apiece.

According to Zee Business research, the rise in the paint stocks can be attributed to softening crude oil prices as the Brent crude extended decline today. The paint maker uses crude oil derivatives like monomers and titanium dioxide as raw materials, which accounts for 40-50 per cent of total expenses.

According to Axis Securities, Asian Paint continues to strengthen its core for the long term, while the near-term triggers like demand recovery in discretionary spends, and a drop in overall inflation will be key for driving volume growth. It maintains a ‘buy’ rating with a target of Rs 3,200 per share.

Tata Steel

Tata group steel company – Tata Steel shares ended more than 2 per cent higher on Wednesday at Rs 108 per share – among top Nifty50 and Sensex gainers.

The company’s margins are likely to improve in the March quarter earnings of this fiscal amid higher steel prices and lower losses at the company’s Europe subsidiary, Nuvama Institutional Equities said, maintained a ‘hold’ rating with a target price of Rs 116 per share.

Bharti Airtel

Telecom major Bharti Airtel closed as a top laggard on Nifty and Sensex, the shares were down around 2 per cent at Rs 756.40 per share on the BSE.

From a long-term perspective, Axis Securities believe that Bharti Airtel would continue to gain market share with minimum capex requirement. The brokerage is positive on Airtel’s growth amid a stronger digital portfolio backed by rising per-user and maintains a ‘buy’ rating with a target of Rs 855 apiece.