RIL: Street's extreme reliance on single stock a cause for concern

A 164% surge in RIL accounted for 43% of the Sensex rally since March 23, making US equities look better

The Indian stock market’s extreme reliance on just a single stock almost makes top-heavy US equities look healthy.

A 164 per cent surge in Reliance Industries (RIL) — India’s largest stock by market capitalisation — accounted for about 43 per cent of the benchmark Sensex’s rally since equities bottomed on March 23. In comparison, the so-called FAANG stocks in the US made up 22 per cent of the S&P 500’s surge during the same period, according to the data compiled by Bloomberg.

Owned by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, the oil-refining major has seen its market value nearly double to