Hot Stocks! Bharti Airtel, ICICI Prudential, Wipro among 5 stocks that are buzzing in trade today

The Sensex and Nifty edged lower on Wednesday after rallying over 5 percent so far this month as investors booked profits amid negative global cues. Asian markets slipped as a rise in US bond yields to 3 per cent and warnings from bellwether US companies of higher costs drove fears that corporate earnings growth may peak soon.

Back home, stock-specific actions hogged limelight as March quarter earnings season gained full steam. At 12:15 pm, the Sensex was trading at 34,549 down 67.13 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 10,586, down 28.20 points. In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and the BSE Smallcap indices remained little changed.

Market breadth, meanwhile, turned negative. On the BSE, 1400 stocks declined, 975 stocks rallied, while 134 stocks remained unchanged.   

Here are five stocks that are buzzing in today's trade: 

Bharti Airtel 

Bharti Airtel share price rallied over 5 per cent after the company's March quarter earnings came in better than expected. The telecom major may have reported its lowest quarterly net profit in at least 15 years, losses were not as steep as were expected as analysts estimated the company to report net loss for first time ever.  Reacting to the results, the stock gained as much as 5.14 per cent to hit its intraday high of Rs 427 on the BSE. Global brokerage Nomura maintained its buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 505 per share.

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance share price spiked over 10 per cent to Rs 459.90, surging 23% in the last three trading sessions on the BSE, after the company reported better than expected results for the financial year 2017-18 (FY18). The company reported a 17 per cent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 340.26 crore for the January-March quarter of 2017-18. The ICICI Bank subsidiary had reported a net profit of Rs 408.24 crore in the same quarter of 2016-17. Income, however, grew to Rs 38,217.43 crore in 2017-18 from Rs 37,193.04 crore in FY18.

DCM Shriram

DCM Shriram share price plunged 13 per cent to Rs 380 per share after the company reported 68 per cent year-on-year (YoY) drop in net profit at Rs 50.7 crore in March quarter (Q4FY18), due to poor performance of its sugar business. It had posted profit of Rs 156.35 crore in year ago quarter. DCM Shriram is engaged in many businesses including sugar, seeds, fertilisers and chemicals.

Wipro 

Wipro share price gained 2 per cent ahead of IT major's March quarter earnings, slated to be released later in the day. Investors will keep an eye on management commentary on the IT major's energy vertical, healthcare and digital vertical. Growth in large clients and large deal wins will be keenly tracked too. 

Persistent Systems

Persistent Systems share price rallied nearly 5 per cent to Rs 759.80 after the midcap IT firm reported a rise of 1.3 per cent in its net profit at Rs 73.71 crore in the quarter ended March of 2017-18. Revenues during the quarter grew by 3.5 percent from a year ago to Rs 752.55 crore. For the full year 2017-18, the profit was up by 7.2 per cent at Rs 323.09 crore and the revenues increased by 5.4 per cent from a year ago to Rs 3,033.70 crore during the fiscal ended March 2018.