Heavyweights do all the lifting in Nifty's record run, shows data

The benchmark Nifty has seen a 10 per cent upward movement in the past two months. However, just a fifth of the 50-pack index components have done most of the heavy-lifting.

Since September 29, the index has added 1,666 points, of which 1,320 points — nearly 80 per cent — have been contributed by 10 stocks. Furthermore, 60 per cent of the gains have come from five stocks —HDFC Bank, Infosys, Reliance Industries and HDFC and ICICI Bank. As these stocks have the highest weighing in the Nifty, they always have an outsized influence on the index.

However, in percentage terms, two-thirds of the Nifty components have underperformed the index. The worst-performing stocks on the 50-share index over the past two months are Divi's Laboratories, Asian Paints, Eicher Motors and Hindustan Unilever — each declining over 5 per cent. 

From the June lows, the participation has been slightly broader, with top 10 stocks contributing just 63 per cent of the gains. However, nearly half of Nifty components have failed to top the 21 per cent gain delivered by the index itself from June lows.