A thin rally

The markets are riding piggyback on only a few stocks

The BSE Sensitive Index (Sensex) touched a new high last week but the all-round celebration that typically follows such a milestone was missing this time. That’s because unlike the rally in January this year, the current one is restricted to the large-cap indices, and within that to just a few stocks. While the 30-stock bellwether index is scaling new tops, the 50-stock Nifty is still a per cent away from its high at the beginning of the year. Six stocks — Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Hindustan Unilever, Reliance Industries, Housing Development Finance Corporation, and HDFC Bank — account for most