PSU market cap surges ahead of CCD meet

MUMBAI, JAN 28: The track-record of the government in divesting its stake in public sector companies may be dismal, but investors seem to ...

MUMBAI, JAN 28: The track-record of the government in divesting its stake in public sector companies may be dismal, but investors seem to have confidence in the shares of major PSUs. PSU stocks continued to remain the largest industrial group following a 6.32% rise in the market cap of 50 public sector undertakings to Rs 113,049.42 crore.

The Ambanis of the Reliance group maintained their position as the second-biggest industrial house in the country after five companies added 6.24% to the market cap to Rs 73,129.41 crore during the week. Leading Reliance group companies like Reliance Industries (up 3.44% to Rs 40,195.68 crore) and Reliance Petroleum (up 9.37% to Rs 28,383.89 crore) added substantially to the market cap of the group.

Old Economy shares gained ground last week on continued FII buying interest, while New Economy groups lost ground. The BSE Sensex ended with a gain of 136 points or 3.23%. The market cap of 1,560 top companies on the BSE rose from Rs 683,969.41 crore to Rs 697,509.38 crore.

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The north-based Jaipraksh group was in the limelight last week on talks that the French cement major Lafarge’s interest in the company’s 4.2 mtpa cement plant. The group improved its ranking by eight places to No 33 following a 40% jump in market cap to Rs 1,168.82 crore on a sharp rise in the flagship Jaiprakash Industries.

Although New Delhi-based Shiv Nadar group managed to maintain its No 4 rank, it lost sharply in market cap. Four companies of the Shiv Nadar group lost 11.09 per cent to Rs 25,306.53 following sharp falls in the share prices of infotech stocks like HCL Technologies (down 11.33%) and NIIT (down 11.28%). NIIT lost ground last week following lower than expected quarterly results last week.

Among other losers in industrial groups during the week were ITC (down 1.57% to Rs 23,111.65 crore), Kumarmangalam Birla (down 1.38% to Rs 11,761.06 crore), Sterlite Industries (down 3.08 per cent to Rs 7,041.41 crore), Burmah Castrol (up 6.08 per cent to Rs 3,240.15 crore), Om Prakash Jindal (up 8.15% to Rs 1,719.09 crore) and Great Eastern (down 12.25% to Rs 849.25 crore).

Other major groups like Tatas (up 2.97% to Rs 15,047.20 crore), HDFC (up 6.91% to Rs 12,233.93 crore), Gujarat Ambuja (up 9.33% to Rs 6,310.20 crore), Bajaj (up 7.41 er cent to Rs 3,239.64 crore), Wockhardt (up 5.25% to Rs1,827.03 crore) and Oberoi (up 5.43% to Rs 1,182.90 crore) recorded substantial gains.

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Meanwhile, New Economy stocks lost ground during the week on institutional selling. Infosys Technologies lost its No 2 position to Hindustan Lever following a 0.02% drop in market cap to Rs 44,909.70 crore. FMCG giant HLL gained 3.13% to Rs 45,387.38 crore last week to claim no 2 position after Wipro, which maintained the numero uno position despite a drop of 2.71% in market cap to Rs 65,884.24 crore.

Magnitude 7.1 earthquake strikes near east coast of Russia’s Kamchatka region

World50 min ago

A powerful 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit near Russia's Kamchatka region on Saturday, according to the German Research Centre for Geosciences. The quake occurred at a depth of 10 km and was felt on the east coast.

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