Kamal Ghorui
Dalal Street ended the week in red, dragging down the valuations of several heavyweight companies, erasing more than Rs 2 lakh crore from seven of India’s ten most-valued firms. Tata Consultancy Services and Reliance Industries accounted for the largest share of this decline as the broader market remained under pressure.The slide in stock prices mirrored weakness in the benchmark indices. Over the week, the BSE Sensex fell by 1,829.33 points, or 2.33%, while the NSE Nifty declined 455.6 points, or 1.87%.“Markets ended lower after two consecutive weeks of gains, weighed down by heightened geopolitical tensions and weak earnings commentary from IT majors,” Ajit Mishra, SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.He noted that global factors continued to weigh on investor sentiment, with uncertainty around the West Asia crisis and fears of supply disruptions keeping crude oil prices elevated.The overall impact was visible in the combined market capitalisation of key firms, which dropped by Rs 2,05,343.06 crore.Tata Consultancy Services saw the sharpest erosion, with its valuation falling by Rs 66,699.44 crore to Rs 8,67,364.12 crore. Reliance Industries also registered a significant decline of Rs 50,670.34 crore, taking its valuation to Rs 17,96,647.50 crore.Among the other companies, HDFC Bank’s market capitalisation fell by Rs 23,090.05 crore to Rs 12,08,225.48 crore. Life Insurance Corporation of India lost Rs 19,670.75 crore, bringing its valuation to Rs 5,13,020.56 crore.Bharti Airtel’s valuation declined by Rs 19,406.59 crore to Rs 11,05,718.62 crore, while ICICI Bank shed Rs 14,663.27 crore to Rs 9,50,345.40 crore. Larsen & Toubro also recorded a drop of Rs 11,142.62 crore, ending the week at Rs 5,52,171.88 crore.In contrast, a few companies managed to post gains. Hindustan Unilever added Rs 20,652.91 crore to reach Rs 5,47,219.80 crore in market valuation. State Bank of India saw an increase of Rs 19,522.76 crore, taking its mcap to Rs 10,16,752.53 crore, while Bajaj Finance rose by Rs 8,253.64 crore to Rs 5,73,690.81 crore.Despite the declines, Reliance Industries remained the country’s most-valued firm. It was followed by HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Bajaj Finance, Larsen & Toubro, Hindustan Unilever and Life Insurance Corporation of India.
