Page 2 - Large-caps

After 3 years, spotlight back on large-caps

After nearly three years of trading on the BSE at a significant discount to the benchmark Sensex, the asking rate for large-cap stocks is increasing once again. The S&P BSE Sensex currently trades at 17.3 times the estimated calendar year 2017 earnings, while the BSE Mid-cap index is at 18.7 times, by Bloomberg calculations. The premium commanded by mid-caps vis-a-vis the Sensex has thereby reduced to 7.5 per cent. Mid-caps had started trading at a premium to large-caps from 2014 onwards. The BSE Mid-cap index premium over the Sensex, 10.3 per cent in 2014, rose to 28.7 per cent in 2015 and was 21.3 per cent in 2016.Experts say the changing trend is a positive one and in favour of large-cap stocks. "It is a combination of money chasing large-caps, led by Reliance Industries, and investors realising there aren't too many affordable pockets in the mid-cap space," explains Pramod Gubbi, head of equities at Ambit Capital. He adds that in a typical bull market, there tends to be an ...