ONGC, SBI biggest losers in market cap last week

Hit by huge losses in the market capitalisation (m-cap) of state-owned ONGC and SBI, the combined market worth of eight of the country's top-10 firms diminished by Rs 78,553.96 crore during last week. 

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) suffered a loss of Rs 26,222.55 crore from its market cap which stood at Rs 2,34,462.93 crore as on Friday's trade on the BSE. 

Last week, the government increased the burden of fuel subsidy payable by upstream oil firms, including ONGC, from one-third to 38.8% for 2010-11 fiscal. 

ONGC, Oil India and GAIL have been ordered to contribute Rs 30,296.75 crore (38.8%). ONGC has been asked to chip in with Rs 24,892.43 crore.

Similarly, the m-cap of country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) eroded by Rs 20,764.18 crore to Rs 1,47,447.85 crore as its net profit tanked by about 99% to Rs 20.8 crore in the quarter ended March, 2011.

In the week gone by, sentiments dampened after SBI posted a sharp dip in Q4 profits and the government increased the subsidy burden on ONGC.

Corporate leader Reliance Industries' m-cap also dropped by Rs 8,920.51 crore to Rs 3,01,627.66 crore.

Maharatna PSU Coal India, too, witnessed en erosion of Rs 13,074.86 crore from its valuation which stood at Rs 2,31,210.36 crore, while power producer NTPC's market cap slipped by Rs 1,401.73 crore to Rs 1,42,935.05 crore.

IT bellwether Infosys Technologies market valuation dipped by Rs 1,693.71 crore to Rs 1,63,661.48 crore, while diversified business group ITC lost Rs 2,863.1 crore to Rs 1,43,773.9 crore.

Top private sector lender ICICI Bank, too, saw a decline of Rs 3,613.32 crore from its m-cap which stood at Rs 1,20,296.56 crore.

In contrast, IT giant TCS and telecom major Bharti airtel witnessed gains in their respective m-cap.

The market worth of TCS swelled by Rs 9,531.57 crore to Rs 2,30,245.01 crore, while that of Bharti went up by Rs 2,468.39 crore to Rs 1,41,913.32 crore.

Meanwhile, in the week gone by, the BSE benchmark Sensex fell by 1.1% to settle at 18,326.09.