Stocks making biggest moves midday: Zen Tech, PNB Housing Finance, Groww and more

Markets look steady on the surface, but the real action is in select stocks—defence, fintech and housing names surge while one auto stock quietly cracks.

Written by Shivangini Gupta

April 21, 2026 13:26 IST

Nifty today top gainers losers Zen Technologies Groww PNB Housing

Select stocks drive gains as Nifty holds firm above 24,550 in afternoon trade

On April 21, the Nifty 50 is holding steady above 24,550 in afternoon trade while the Sensex gained nearly 1%. The gains were, however, unevenly distributed. A handful of stocks were doing the heavy lifting. Here are the top movers and shakers at this hour:

Zen Technologies

Zen Technologies Ltd. share price moved with unusual urgency, rising about 11% by midday. The stock has not been drifting; it has been pushing higher session after session, and the numbers back that up, with gains exceeding 17% in five sessions and more than 33% in a month.

The trigger is fairly direct. The company secured an arms manufacturing licence under the Arms Act, 1959. This is not a symbolic approval. It allows production of 12.7mm, 23mm, 30mm, and 40mm cannons, systems that are not decorative additions but central to air defence and anti-drone operations.

PNB Housing Finance

The share price of PNB Housing Finance climbed close to 10%, holding around Rs 995.85 by midday. The reaction follows numbers that are solid, not spectacular, but clearly good enough to push sentiment upward.

The company reported a 14% rise in net profit for the March quarter at Rs 648.70 crore, compared to Rs 567.11 crore a year earlier. Revenue from core operations increased 6.8% to Rs 2,169.86 crore. Earnings per share also improved to Rs 24.90 from Rs 21.82. None of this is weak.

The board recommended a final dividend of Rs 8 per equity share for FY26.

Groww

Groww share price rose around 9.6% by midday, backed by heavy trading volumes. The movement is tied directly to earnings, and here the numbers are difficult to dismiss.

Net profit for the March quarter jumped 122% to Rs 686.35 crore, compared to Rs 309.08 crore a year earlier. Revenue from core operations increased 87% to Rs 1,505 crore. Earnings per share moved up to Rs 1.11 from Rs 0.57. These are not incremental gains; they are sharp expansions.

Total transacting users rose 25% year-on-year to 21.6 million, with an active base of 16.7 million.

SML Mahindra

SML Mahindra share price dropped about 4.5% by midday, after slipping as much as nearly 6% earlier in the session. The reaction comes despite numbers that are not outright disappointing, which makes the fall more telling.

Profit after tax rose slightly by 2.36% to Rs 54.20 crore. Revenue increased 16.36% to Rs 897.65 crore. On paper, that looks acceptable. The company also declared a final dividend of Rs 23.50 per share. Yet the market is not convinced.

Hindustan Copper

Hindustan Copper share price edged up nearly 2% to around Rs 567 by midday. The move is tied less to current earnings and more to future projections, which always carry a mix of optimism and doubt.

The company laid out an aggressive capital expenditure plan, with Rs 1,421.73 crore projected for FY27, sharply higher than Rs 450.51 crore in FY26. The longer-term plan extends to Rs 7,188.60 crore by 2030. That is not a minor increase; it is a commitment to expansion.

Profit projections are also laid out with confidence. The company expects PAT of Rs 600 crore in FY27 and targets Rs 1,568 crore by 2030.

This article was first uploaded on April twenty-one, twenty twenty-six, at twenty-six minutes past one in the afternoon.