Asian Paints gains after Rs.7,703 crore block deal; Bajaj Finance, Eternal also see heavy trades

Shares of Asian Paints Ltd., India’s largest paints manufacturer, rose as much as 3 per cent in early trade on Thursday following a large block transaction in the stock. Data from the exchange showed that 3.5 crore shares changed hands during the pre-open block window at an average price of ₹2,201 per share, valuing the deal at approximately ₹7,703 crore.

The transaction involved 3.64 per cent of the company’s outstanding equity. The identities of the buyers and sellers in the block deal were not immediately disclosed.

As of the March 2025 quarter, mutual funds held a 5.67 per cent stake in the company, with ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund and SBI Mutual Fund among the prominent institutional shareholders. The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) held an 8.29 per cent stake. Additionally, over 11.73 lakh retail shareholders—those with holdings up to ₹2 lakh—collectively owned 11.84 per cent of Asian Paints. Siddhant Commercials Pvt. Ltd., a known public shareholder, held 4.9 per cent as of March 31.

Despite Thursday’s gain, sentiment around the stock has weakened recently. Earlier this week, Morgan Stanley became the third brokerage to assign a target price below the ₹2,000 mark, issuing a bearish outlook on the company’s growth prospects. The brokerage highlighted that Asian Paints had lost 424 basis points of market share in FY25—well above its estimates—and expects this trend to continue over the next three years.

In its bear-case scenario, Morgan Stanley sees the stock falling to as low as ₹1,307, citing intensifying competition, sluggish volume growth, and weaker margins.

Shares of Asian Paints were trading at ₹2,226.70, up 0.68 per cent, at 1:24 p.m. IST on the NSE.

Other Major Block Deals Today

Several other notable block deals were also recorded on Thursday across the broader market.

Zomato-parent Eternal witnessed a block deal involving 60.93 lakh shares worth ₹156.65 crore, leading to a 1.6 per cent decline in its stock. The shares touched an intraday low of ₹252.98, and were last seen trading at ₹253.32, down 1.46 per cent, at 11:50 a.m. The stock has been under pressure amid reports that Rapido plans to enter the food delivery space in Bengaluru later this month.

Bajaj Finance saw 1.75 lakh shares change hands at ₹9,519 apiece, amounting to a deal size of ₹166.58 crore, as per NSE data. The stock was trading at ₹9,440, up 0.16 per cent, in afternoon trade. The company recently posted a 17 per cent year-on-year rise in net profit for the March quarter at ₹4,480 crore, with total income rising to ₹15,808 crore.

Schaeffler India, an auto component manufacturer, recorded a block deal of 79,559 shares at ₹4,188.40 per share, totaling ₹33.32 crore. Shares were trading at ₹4,198.90, up 0.25 per cent on the NSE following the transaction.