Seven of the country’s 10 most valued companies together lost Rs 1.54 lakh crore in market valuation last week. This erosion was led by weak investor sentiment and a broader selloff in equities weighed heavily on heavyweight stocks. Reliance Industries emerged as the biggest laggard in terms of market capitalisation erosion.
The holiday-shortened trading week remained under pressure, with the BSE Sensex falling 639.61 points or 0.84%, while the NSE Nifty declined 171.55 points or 0.72%.
Among the top 10 firms, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Bajaj Finance and Hindustan Unilever saw sharp declines in their valuations. State Bank of India, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Life Insurance Corporation of India managed to post gains.
RIL’s steep fall, HDFC close second
Reliance Industries suffered the steepest fall, with its market valuation shrinking by Rs 46,078.3 crore to Rs 17,87,039.40 crore. HDFC Bank followed closely, losing Rs 33,333.06 crore in market capitalisation to settle at Rs 11,46,641.84 crore.
Bharti Airtel’s valuation declined by Rs 25,408.96 crore to Rs 11,14,886.53 crore, while TCS lost Rs 22,920.58 crore, taking its market cap to Rs 8,15,480.75 crore.
Hindustan Unilever witnessed an erosion of Rs 13,169.46 crore in valuation, while Bajaj Finance and ICICI Bank lost Rs 7,253.24 crore and Rs 6,311.41 crore, respectively.
M-cap gainers
On the gaining side, engineering major L&T added Rs 20,608.43 crore to reach a valuation of Rs 5,60,836.64 crore. SBI’s market capitalisation rose by Rs 13,753.62 crore, while LIC added Rs 6,040.37 crore.
Despite the weekly decline, Reliance Industries retained its position as India’s most valued company, followed by HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank and SBI.
