NSE m-cap at all-time high

Though the domestic equity markets are still below their all-time high mark of January 2008, the combined market capitalisation (m-cap) of companies listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) has already surpassed its previous peak.

The week began well for the NSE, with m-cap hitting a new high on Monday at Rs 68.54 lakh crore. This went up further to the highest ever level of Rs 69.63 lakh crore on Thursday, before marginally slipping on Friday to Rs 69.48 lakh crore.

Friday’s session saw firm trading in the domestic equity markets on the back of heavy inflows from foreign institutional investors (FIIs). The BSE’s Sensex closed strong at 19,594.75, up 177.26 points, while the Nifty closed at 5,884.95, up 56.25 points. Before this week, the previous high for NSE’s m-cap was on January 7, 2008, when it hit Rs 67.94 lakh crore. Then the markets collapsed. By March 9 last year, the m-cap of NSE plunged to Rs 25.05 lakh crore.

Karvy Stock Broking Vice-President Ambareesh Baliga says: “Though the indices have still not touched their previous highs, the m-cap’s new highs is due to the bull run and new companies’ listings on the exchanges.”
 

RISING GAINS
Stocks	Market cap in Rs crore
	Mar 9, 2009	Sep 17, 2010	Change	(%)*
ONGC	1,42,395.27	2,99,142.36	1,56,747.09	110
RIL	1,88,754.95	3,35,928.98	1,47,174.03	78
SBI	56,945.90	1,96,465.91	1,39,520.01	275
TCS	45,250.46	1,78,584.71	1,33,334.25	295
Infosys	68,681.48	1,70,683.60	1,02,002.12	149
ICICI Bank	30,173.78	1,28,015.07	97,841.29	324
L&T	33,985.49	1,18,673.04	84,687.55	249
HDFC Bank	36,845.36	1,10,679.06	73,833.70	200
Wipro	30,263.15	1,03,034.44	72,771.29	240
MMTC	65,409.00	1,36,930.00	71,521.00	109
Compiled by BS Research Bureau *Approx percentage change

Indeed, from January 2008 till date, the total number of trading scrips on NSE alone has increased from 1,196 to 1,402. The recent rally has helped, too. The maximum rise in m-cap since the markets bottomed in March 2009 has been in ONGC’s scrip. In absolute terms, the company added close to Rs 1.56 lakh crore, followed by Reliance Industries which added Rs 1.47 lakh crore.

State Bank of India, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys Technologies, ICICI Bank and Larsen & Toubro are the other companies which gained the most during this period.

Currently, in the world’s total m-cap kitty, India’s contribution is 3.28 per cent — the eighth largest in the world. This pertains to the total m-cap of listed entities on both BSE as well as NSE, at Rs 72 lakh crore. The US contributes the highest at 29.51 per cent, followed by Japan at 7.71 per cent.

However, compared with the peak of January 2008, India’s current m-cap is still lower by 4.72 per cent, or Rs 3.55 lakh crore. That’s because BSE’s m-cap is yet to catch up with its 2008 peak.