Top-8 firms gain Rs 1.29-trn mcap

New Delhi: The combined market valuation of eight of the top-10 most valued firms jumped Rs1,29,899.22 crore in a holiday-shortened last week, where equity benchmark indices recorded a sharp rally.

Last week, the BSE benchmark jumped 1,133.3 points or 1.59 per cent. The index reached its all-time high of 72,484.34 on December 28. Equity markets were closed on Monday for Christmas. While Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Bharti Airtel, ITC, State Bank of India (SBI) and Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) were the gainers, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys were the laggards. HDFC Bank, LIC, Bharti Airtel and Hindustan Unilever were the biggest winners from the top-10 pack. The market valuation of HDFC Bank jumped Rs29,828.84 crore to Rs12,97,972.04 crore.

LIC added Rs25,426.49 crore, taking its valuation to Rs5,27,062.06 crore. The valuation of Bharti Airtel surged Rs24,510.96 crore to Rs5,80,645.54 crore, and that of Hindustan Unilever (HUL) rallied Rs20,735.14 crore to Rs6,25,778.39 crore. The market capitalisation (mcap) of Reliance Industries zoomed Rs13,633.07 crore to reach Rs17,48,827.92 crore, and that of ITC soared Rs9,164.74 crore to Rs5,76,809.77 crore. State Bank of India added Rs4,730.04 crore, taking its valuation to Rs5,72,915.46 crore. The mcap of ICICI Bank climbed Rs1,869.94 crore to Rs6,98,965.47 crore. However, the valuation of TCS declined by Rs11,105.22 crore to Rs13,88,591.70 crore, and that of Infosys dipped by Rs7,946.24 crore to Rs6,40,351.80 crore. Reliance Industries continued to retain the title of the most valued firm, followed by TCS, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Infosys, Hindustan Unilever, Bharti Airtel, ITC, State Bank of India and LIC.