BSE-LISTED COS’ MARKET CAP HITS A RECORD HIGH OF ₹211 LAKH CR

MUMBAI: The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies touched a record ₹211 lakh crore ($2.87 trillion) on Friday, tracking recent gains in the equities market. These companies saw their market capitalisation jump by ₹4.40 lakh crore in the past three days.

On Friday, the benchmark Sensex closed at 49,206.47, up 256.71 points or 0.52%. The broader Nifty50 closed at 14,823.15, up 98.35 points or 0.67%. Both Sensex and Nifty had hit their lifetime highs of 52,516.76 and 15,431.75 on February 16. Meanwhile, the BSE Smallcap closed at an all-time closing high of 22,360.13 and the S&P BSE Midcap index is 2.26% away from the record high touched in March.

In absolute terms, Reliance Industries Ltd is the country’s most valuable firm with a market valuation of ₹12,24,336.42 crore, followed by Tata Consultancy Services (TCs) with ₹11,58,542.89 crore.

“The market, which is forward-looking, is driven by the hope that the second wave will peak around mid-May and the economy will soon bounce back,” said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

“Fourth-quarter earnings indicate a sharp turnaround in profitability and this trend is likely to sustain if the second covid wave peaks and then comes down like what happened in the UK,” he said.

Market breadth, on Friday, was positive with 1,687 stocks ending higher against 1,321 ending lower on BSE.