Mcap of 7 of top-10 most valued firms climbs Rs 71,301 crore; Bharti Airtel shines

The combined market valuation of seven of the top-10 most valued firms climbed Rs 71,301.34 crore in the holiday-shortened last week, with Bharti Airtel emerging as the lead gainer.

In a record-breaking rally last week, the BSE benchmark climbed 374.04 points or 0.50 per cent. Stock markets were closed on Friday for Mahashivratri. The 30-share BSE Sensex on Thursday settled at a new closing peak of 74,119.39. The Nifty also ended at a fresh closing high of 22,493.55.

Leading stock exchanges BSE and NSE conducted a special trading session in the equity and equity derivative segments on Saturday (March 2) to check their preparedness to handle major disruption or failure at the primary site.

While Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, Bharti Airtel, Hindustan Unilever and ITC were the gainers, Reliance Industries, Infosys and Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) suffered erosion from their market valuation.

The valuation of Bharti Airtel jumped Rs 38,726.67 crore to Rs 6,77,448.44 crore. State Bank of India added Rs 13,476.16 crore, taking its market valuation to Rs 7,03,393.29 crore.

HDFC Bank's valuation rallied Rs 12,243.35 crore to Rs 10,98,707.88 crore and that of ICICI Bank spurted by Rs 3,099.76 crore to Rs 7,63,581.30 crore.

The market capitalisation (mcap) of ITC climbed Rs 1,469.81 crore to Rs 5,15,921.57 crore and that of TCS advanced by Rs 1,157.79 crore to Rs 14,87,070.15 crore. The valuation of Hindustan Unilever climbed Rs 1,127.8 crore to Rs 5,68,753.81 crore.

However, the mcap of Infosys tanked Rs 15,875.81 crore to Rs 6,71,121.34 crore and that of Reliance Industries tumbled Rs 15,391.94 crore to Rs 20,01,358.50 crore. LIC's mcap declined by Rs 6,166.87 crore to Rs 6,48,596.89 crore.

Reliance Industries continued to rule the chart of the most valued firms followed by TCS, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, LIC, Hindustan Unilever and ITC.