Paytm, Apollo Micro, IFCI & 373 other stocks freeze at lower circuits

At 01:21 pm; the S&P BSE Midcap index and the S&P BSE Smallcap index were down 1.7% and 2%, respectively, correcting by up to 4 per cent from their record high levels touched earlier this month

Shares of Paytm parent One97 Communications, IFCI, Ganesh Housing Finance, Jubilant Industries, KPI Green Energy, Tourism Finance Corp, Apollo Micro Systems and BEML Land Assets were among 376 BSE stocks that were locked in their respective lower circuits in Wednesday's intraday trade. 

Only sellers were seen at many of these counters as mid and smallcap stocks saw a sharp correction. At 01:21 pm; the S&P BSE Midcap index and the S&P BSE Smallcap index were down 1.7 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively.

The two indices have corrected up to 4 per cent from their record highs touched earlier this month. By comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was down less than 1 per cent or 0.87 per cent.

BGR Energy was locked in the 10 per cent lower circuit at Rs 54.83 on BSE. In the past six days, the stock of the civil construction company has more than halved (down 52 per cent).

BSE has sought clarification from BGR Energy on the significant movement in price. The reply is awaited.

The company’s promoter Sasikala Ragupathy sold 7.4 million equity shares, representing 10 per cent stake, worth Rs 69 crore in the company via open market.

The promoter had offloaded these shares between February 21 and February 26 through multiple bulk deals on the NSE, as per exchange data. The name of the buyers were not known. Sasikala held 23.99 percent stake in the company as of December 2023.

On Monday, February 26, Sasikala sold 1.8 million shares at an average price of Rs 79.73 through open market transactions valuing the deal at Rs 14.44 crore.

Earlier on February 21, he offloaded 1.58 million shares at Rs 108.48 per share followed by 1.6 million shares at Rs 97.37 on February 22 and 2.42 million shares at Rs 89.59 per share on February 23, data shows.

The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 119.50 on February 20. Prior to that, in the past seven months, the stock of the company had more than doubled or zoomed 103 per cent from a level of Rs 58.95.

Shares of Jubilant Industries, meanwhile, were also locked in the 5 per cent lower circuit at Rs 1,295.10. The stock of the specialty chemicals firm hit a record high of Rs 1,363.25 on Tuesday. Thus far in February, it has zoomed 124 per cent from a level of Rs 608 hit on January 31.

KPI Green Energy, too, was locked in the 5 per cent lower circuit at Rs 1,658.20 on the BSE. The stock had hit an all-time high of Rs 1,896 on Monday, February 26. In the past one month, it has nearly doubled from Rs 981 (adjusted to 1:2 bonus).