Thirteen companies have joined the Rs 1-trillion-plus market capitalisation club this year, so far. This even as the benchmark Sensex has gained less than 3 per cent on a year-to-date basis, underscoring the bullish undercurrent in the broader market. The trend shows a harsh second wave of Covid-19, subsequent lockdowns, and hit to the economic activity has made little dent into India Inc or shareholders' wealth. At the start of the year, there were 29 companies with a market value of more than Rs 1 trillion.
In 2020-21, Indian firms offered to buy back shares worth Rs 39,295 crore, or 97% more than Rs 19,972 cr proposed in the previous financial year.
Covid-19, US yields, dollar to weigh on equity flows in the near term.
The 30-share bluechip index is rebalanced on a semi-annual basis with next rejig slated for June 18.
While the stocks met various other inclusion parameters, there were fears they may still get disqualified given the sharp run up in their stock prices.
The listing day gain-to-loss ratio for FY21 was 71 per cent, the highest since FY17, when it was 85 per cent.
Shares of small-cap companies have been on a roll with the S&P BSE Small-Cap index hitting a new high in intra-day deals on Thursday. The rally has been fueled by an up move in stocks of chemicals, cement, graphite electrode makers, pharmaceuticals and information technology (IT) shares. In the past two weeks, since March 25, the index has outperformed the market by gaining 7.3 per cent. In comparison, the S&P BSE Midcap index was up 6.1 per cent, while the S&P BSE Sensex gained 3.6 per cent during the same period.
The finance ministry said the sharp inflows last fiscal were due to the government's policy initiatives and economic recovery.
'It won't help being complacent about the momentum and valuations of equities that currently exist.'
Jhunjhunwala, one of India's well-known individual investors, was speaking at the India Economic Conclave organised by the Times Network. He said he won't rule out 5-10 times gains in state-owned banks over the next five years. Shares of PSBs have been on a tear this year. The Nifty PSB index is up 20 per cent so far this year.
Sebi proposes to relax ownership rules to allow more entrants in the exchange space, which is seeing a disruption globally with the emergence of new technologies such as block chain.
The rise in US bond yields spooked investors last week and there could a further increase given the inflation dynamics, according to Christopher Wood, global head of equity strategy at Jefferies. "The US bond market sell-off has continued over the past week, and with it the increased potential for an inflation scare. "Still, there is plenty of scope for bonds to sell off more since the last time the 5-year forward inflation expectation rate was running at current levels (namely in early December 2018), the 10- and 30-year bond yields were significantly higher at 2.91 per cent and 3.17 per cent, respectively," the market guru said in his newsletter GREED & fear. The 10-year and 30-year US Treasury finished at 1.34 per cent and 2.13 per cent, respectively, last week.
The exchange cited issues with its telecom service providers that prevented stocks and index quotations from getting updated.
The bulk of the incremental profits will come from oil & gas and automobile sectors.
Sebi's change of rules will give the government -- which owns 100 per cent of LIC -- the flexibility to assess market demand and opt for lower dilution.
Thus far in FY21, BSE, NSE have rallied 70 per cent and 71 per cent, respectively.
Through anchor allotment, a firm can demonstrate the demand for shares by getting marquee investors on board.
The firm is on course to replace state-owned Gail India in the widely-followed index during the semi-annual review set for March.
Currently, TCS is India's second most valuable firm after Reliance Industries, which has a market cap of nearly Rs 12.9 trillion.
Mutual funds aspirants have the option of snapping up smaller AMCs or applying for a new licence.