The holiday-shortened trading week took a toll on the country’s major companies, with seven of the 10 most valuable companies collectively losing Rs 1.75 lakh crore in market cap.
Reliance Industries saw the lion’s share of the erosion, reflecting the broader weakness in stocks. The decline in stocks was mirrored in benchmark indices, with the BSE Sensex falling by 949.74 points, or 1.27%, and the NSE Nifty falling by 294.9 points, also down 1.27% during the week. According to Ajit Mishra, Senior Vice President, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, the market witnessed significant volatility throughout the period. “Markets ended the week on a weaker note, reflecting increased volatility amid global volatility and rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
He added: “The week witnessed sharp volatility, with early losses driven by concerns about energy supply disruptions, a weak rupee, which touched a record low, and increased volatility.” He added that sentiment improved briefly in the middle of the week amid expectations of a temporary decline in tensions between the United States and Iran. “But renewed selling pressure on Friday erased the gains, pushing the indices lower,” Mishra said. Reliance Industries saw its valuation shrink by Rs 89,720.3 crore to Rs 18,24,515.62 crore. HDFC Bank also registered a sharp decline, with its market capitalization falling by Rs 37,248.59 crore to Rs 11,64,018.69 crore.
State Bank of India followed with a loss of Rs 35,399.42 crore, taking its valuation to Rs 9,41,569.15 crore. ICICI Bank’s market cap fell by Rs 8,121.76 crore to Rs 8,83,551.30 crore, while Bharti Airtel fell by Rs 2,480.42 crore to Rs 10,50,413.33 crore. Hindustan Unilever recorded a decline of Rs 2,091.13 crore, taking its valuation to Rs 4,87,540.19 crore, and Tata Consultancy Services saw a marginal decline of Rs 271.35 crore to Rs 8,64,668.65 crore. On the other hand, Larsen & Toubro recorded gains of Rs 18,051.68 crore, taking its market capitalization to Rs 4,90,536.19 crore. Bajaj Finance added Rs 8,680.36 crore to Rs 5,25,395.48 crore, while Infosys rose by Rs 6,245.3 crore to Rs 5,15,034.67 crore. Reliance Industries remained the most valuable company during the week, followed by HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Bajaj Finance, Infosys, Larsen & Toubro and Hindustan Unilever.