Friday, September 28, 2007

Nine cos enter trillion club as Sensex rides past 17K-mark

MUMBAI: The surprise bull run has generated so much of wealth that many top-rung companies can now boast of being part of the Rs 1-trillion market cap club.

The list of the biggest wealth creators is expanding with every 1,000-point rise in the Sensex. Nine companies, led by Reliance Industries (RIL), have already entered the hall of fame after their market caps soared beyond Rs 1,00,000 crore (trillion) amid unprecedented rally in their shares in the past few months.

RIL topped the list with Rs 3,23,322 crore as on Thursday when the Sensex soared past the historic 17k-mark to close with a gain of 229 points, or 1.4%, at 17,151. The stock has been on a dream run, jumping 27% to Rs 2,320 in one month. The market is still looking for clues as to what sparked the surge in the scrip.

Public sector oil and gas giant ONGC ranks second, but the company’s market cap at Rs 2,07,826 crore is substantially lower than that of RIL. Apart from RIL and ONGC, Bharti Airtel (Rs 1,82,256 crore), NTPC (Rs 1,59,880 crore) and DLF (Rs 1,26,432 crore) are among the top five wealth creators. Most of them, barring Bharti Airtel, have outperformed the Sensex in the past one month. The stocks have risen between 10% and 27% against a 16% gain in the index.

Two companies — DLF and ICICI Bank (market cap Rs 1,09,222 crore) — have found place in the list of high-fliers during the Sensex’s journey from 15K to 17K in the past two-and-a-half months.

A few more companies are close to touching the Rs 1 trillion-mark. Bhel and SBI, with a market cap of Rs 99,896 crore and Rs 99,260 crore, respectively, may soon achieve the milestone if these stocks continue to rise in the coming days.

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