The equity market pushed higher by midday with benchmarks firm. The Nifty is holding above the 25,700 levels. The small and midcaps are seeing brisk buying as well. Stock-specific action has, however, taken centre stage. With the markets being shut for a day, several stocks are reacting to news flow today.
Here are the top movers and shakers at this hour:
Infosys
Infosys dominated the session, surging over 5% by midday, after the IT major delivered a December-quarter performance that cleared the market’s low bar and then went a step further. The stock rallied as investors reacted to the revised FY26 revenue guidance for FY26. The guidance is now higher at 3–3.5%, from the earlier 2%–3% band. The management commentary pointed to steadier discretionary tech spending and renewed traction in financial services, a segment investors have been watching closely for signs of life.
Vedanta
Vedanta slipped nearly 2%, snapping a four-day winning streak that had already delivered close to 12% gains. The decline came with elevated volumes and looked like classic profit-taking rather than panic. The broader metals space was softer as well, with the Nifty Metal index down about 0.4%.
Other metal names followed suit. Hindalco, NMDC, Hindustan Zinc, Hindustan Copper and NALCO were all trading lower, mostly in the 1%–2% range. Vedanta itself traded between Rs 664 and Rs 679, still uncomfortably close to its 52-week high.
Zen Technologies
Zen Technologies jumped close to 9%, extending gains after it secured fresh defence orders worth Rs 404 crore from the Ministry of Defence. The orders include Rs 332 crore for anti-drone and counter-unmanned aerial systems, and Rs 72 crore for training simulators and related equipment.
Execution is scheduled within a year. The irony was not lost on the market. Despite the sharp rally today, the stock remains down sharply over longer periods, having lost more than 40% year-on-year. This move was about contracts and visibility, not history.
Angel One
Angel One advanced around 7.5% after announcing its December-quarter results, alongside board approval for a stock split and dividend. While Q3 PAT declined 4.5% year-on-year, the quarter-on-quarter comparison told a different story, with profits up 26% sequentially.
Investors appeared willing to look past the annual dip, focusing instead on operating momentum, capital actions, and the signal that management was comfortable returning value while recalibrating growth.
HBL Engineering
HBL Engineering was among the session’s sharp losers, plunging nearly 14% to its lowest level in about a month after missing out on a key Indian Railways order. The stock has been under pressure since early January, and today’s move extended that trend.
The sell-off was severe, but context matters. Over the past year, the stock has been up more than 44%.
Reliance Power
Reliance Power traded sharply lower, down as much as 8% intraday, after it disclosed that the market regulator had initiated a forensic audit. The stock touched a fresh 52-week low before recovering part of the losses, but it remained firmly in the red by midday.