RIL faces CIL, ONGC challenge for top valuation slot

Reliance Industries (RIL) came dangerously close to losing its position as the country's most valued firm today when state-run Coal India's (CIL) valuation was less than 1% below that of the Mukesh Ambani-led corporate giant.

Within minutes of opening this morning, the market cap of RIL was only 0.75% or Rs 1,874 crore higher than that of CIL, but the gap widened as the trading progressed in both the stocks.

At close, RIL retained its top-slot with a market cap of Rs 2,50,599 crore -- about 4% higher than CIL's Rs 2,40,400 crore and nearly 2% higher than ONGC's Rs 2,44,858 crore.

While RIL managed to recover from its early morning losses, CIL lost further ground during the day's trade.

In the meantime, another state-run giant ONGC gained strongly and ended with a gain of 1.23% in a weak market. In comparison, RIL and CIL lost nearly 2% and 3%, respectively.

In early morning trade, RIL's market valuation had dipped to a low of Rs 2,46,948 crore, closely followed by CIL with a market cap of about Rs 2,45,074 crore. At that time, ONGC was lagging behind the two at Rs 2,38,612 crore.

During intra-day trade, ONGC commanded a market cap of as high as Rs 2,47,253 crore, while RIL's valuation had dipped to a low of Rs 2,46,850 crore during the day, but at different times.

Way back in 2006, RIL had toppled ONGC as the country's most valued firm.

Marketmen would be keenly watching the three stocks tomorrow to see whether RIL can manage to extend its lead or one of the two PSU giants is able to catch up with the private sector giant.

RIL stock has been under acute pressure in recent past, while ONGC has managed to outperform in a weak market on several occasions in past few days.

Currently, RIL is the country's most valued firm, followed by ONGC, CIL, TCS, ITC, Bharti Airtel, SBI, NTPC, Infosys and HDFC Bank in the top ten.

While the top-three command a market cap in excess of Rs 2 lakh crore, the remaining carry valuations of more than Rs 1 lakh crore each.