RIL regains numero uno spot after briefly dethroned by TCS

Reliance Industries (RIL) regained numero uno spot on Dalal Street in terms of market capitalisation (cap) after being dethroned by TCS, for a brief period, in the morning session. 
 
RIL shares have surged over 87 per cent in the past one year and wiped off the gap with TCS last year. 
 
That said, the recent devaluation in rupee and healthy quarter numbers lifted TCS shares, closing in the m-cap gap with the oil-to-telecom giant.
 
On the closing basis, RIL quoted the market cap of Rs 6.1 lakh crore, while TCS settled at the market cap of Rs 6 lakh crore after hitting a high of Rs 6.2 lakh crore during the day. The stock rose as much as 5 per cent to its record high level of Rs 3254.80 in intraday trade. 
 
The surge came amid broader gains in IT stocks with the Nifty IT index being the sole sectoral gainer among NSE Indices.
 
IT stocks spurted after global brokerage firm Morgan Stanley Research noted earlier in January that a turnaround in IT spending is imminent, which could quickly turn sentiment on these stocks. 
 
“Large cap stocks have underperformed the Sensex for the last three years. Valuations are at or below long-term averages and an improving global macro could spur tech spending, which could re-rate stocks, in our view,” said a Morgan Stanley report, dated January 15.
 
The brokerage house has upgraded Infosys, Tech Mahindra and HCL Technologies to overweight as valuations are at or below long-term averages. The firm expects that an improvement in banking, financial services and insurance and retail verticals will help TCS and hence it upgraded it to “equalweight”. 
 
Meanwhile, investors booked profits in RIL, which fell nearly 2 per cent to Rs 964 after gaining in the last three sessions. 
 
"We update our model for the December quarter, and for our revised regional oil, refining and chemical assumptions. We are more conservative on Reliance Jio’s ARPUs and
profitability estimates. Our FY18F earnings decline by 8%, but our FY19F/20F earnings increase by 2-5%. Also, we move forward our SOTP-based valuations (unchanged) to end-FY20F (earlier Sep-19F). Our revised target price of Rs 1,220 implies 31% upside. The stock currently trades at 10.5xFY19F /PE," said Nomura in a research report dated January 22.