Infosys loses most-influential stock status to RIL

Infosys today lost its status of the country's most influential stock to Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), as the shares of the IT giant fell sharply by over 8%.

At the same time, Infosys has slipped to sixth position in the league of the country's most valued firms, from its fifth slot previously.

The Infosys-triggered weakness in the IT sector today also led to another software giant TCS slipping to the third position, from second previously. A few days ago, TCS had briefly replaced RIL as the most valued firm, but has slipped to third position now, after RIL and state-run ONGC.

Based on its weightage on the Indian stock market's barometer index, Sensex, Infosys today slipped to the second position after RIL, which has been at the pole position for many years, but had lost out to the IT firm some time ago.

At the end of today's trade, Infosys carried a Sensex weight of 9.51%, which was a shade below RIL's 10%. Infosys had first replaced RIL at the top slot on December 12, after which a situation similar to the game of musical chairs has been on display, as the two companies have repeatedly overtaken each other to the pole position.

The Sensex weigthage of its 30 constituent stocks changes daily, as per these company's free-float market capitalisation or value of shares held by non-promoter shareholders that are freely available trading.

Infosys' free-float market cap today dipped to 1,26,346 crore, after the stock plunged by 8.4% on concerns related to a weak set of revenue forecast announced by the company. The IT major today announced a robust set of third-quarter results, but lowered full-year revenue forecast.

RIL shares also dipped 1.44%, but its free-float market cap (Rs 1,32,828 crore) was higher than that of Infosys.

In terms of full market cap, including the value of promoter shares, RIL remains the country's most valued firm, while Infosys has slipped to sixth position, from fifth previously.

At the end of today's trade, Infosys' full market cap stood at Rs 1,48,642 crore, which is sixth highest after RIL, ONGC (Rs 220,432.20 crore), TCS (Rs 213,904.68 crore), Coal India (Rs 205,597.66 crore) and ITC (Rs 159,392.49 crore).

TCS shares today dropped 3.9%, while ONGC slipped 0.6% in a weak market.