Street signs: Market cap at a new high, ICICI Securities stock, and more

India market cap at a new high

Currently, the broader-market BSE 500 index is 4.4 per cent below its all-time high touched in January. The BSE Smallcap and Midcap indices are more than 10 per cent below their record highs, while benchmark Sensex is two per cent below its peak. Despite that, the market capitalisation of all listed companies in India touched a new all-time high of Rs 156 trillion earlier this month. This is primarily on account of a spate of new listings. A total of eight IPOs totalling Rs 160 billion were launched in March 2018, fifth most in a calendar month.

Samie Modak

Fortis boost for Religare Enterprises

Market players expect the Religare Enterprises stock to get a boost after the Fortis board’s decision to chose Munjals-Burmans’ bid to buy Fortis Healthcare. They say Burmans, who recently purchased warrants that will give 9.9 per cent stake in Religare Enterprises on conversion, seem to have a bigger game plan. The warrants were issued in April. As of March 2018, the promoter group held 3.08 per cent in the company while the remaining 96.92 per cent was held by foreign institutional investors, banks and public shareholders. Religare Enterprises closed at Rs 54.70 on Friday, up 1.39 per cent.

Joydeep Ghosh

ICICI Securities sees value buying 

Shares of ICICI Securities, which are down 30 per cent from the issue price, are finally seeing some buying interest. According to sources, IDFC Mutual Fund (MF), Artisan Partners and Sundaram MF are among the institutional investors who have lapped up shares of the brokerage in recent weeks. Shares of ICICI Securities dropped to an all-time low of Rs 360 last week. The subsidiary of ICICI Bank had sold shares in the IPO at Rs 520 apiece. Several mutual funds, including ICICI Prudential MF, who had subscribed to the shares in the maiden offering are staring at huge mark-to-market losses.

Samie Modak