As the benchmark equity indices continued their losing streak for the fourth consecutive week, nine of the top ten most-valued firms lost a whopping ₹2,09,952.26 crore. Dull quarterly earnings and persistent FII selling added to the woes of investors worried about the bearish stock market. Hindustan Unilever and Reliance Industries Limited were the worst-affected large-cap stocks in terms of market capitalisation.
The benchmark indices ended in red after the BSE Sensex tanked 662.87 points, or 0.83%, to 79,402.29 points on Friday. The Nifty 50 ended 218.60 points, or 0.90%, down at 24,180.80.
According to experts, factors like weaker-than-expected Q2FY25 earnings, FII selling, brewing Middle East tensions, and the attractiveness of the Chinese markets are likely to define market sentiment in the coming days.
“The dismal Q2 earnings so far have aggravated the investors' woes while persistent FII selling continued to create havoc in the market,” Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd told ANI.
“The Indian equity market is experiencing a sharp correction due to multiple factors. The primary driver is foreign institutional selling, driven by valuation concerns and the increased attractiveness of the Chinese market,” PTI quoted Santosh Meena, Head of Research at Swastika Investmart.
Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) giant Hindustan Unilever witnessed a massive degradation in stock value after its shares plummeted by 7.29% last week. The company stock recouped some loss and ended Friday's session 0.98% higher at ₹2527.55 per share. HUL's market valuation dipped by ₹44,195.81 crore to ₹5,93,870.94 crore. HUL reported a weaker-than-expected earning after reporting a 4% fall in its standalone net profit in the second quarter of FY25 at ₹2,612 crore.
Reliance Industries' share price fell 2.79% in the past five days and ended at 2655.45 per share on BSE on Friday. The market capitalisation of the Mukesh Ambani-owned firm tumbled ₹41,994.54 crore to ₹17,96,726.60 crore.
India's largest public sector bank, State Bank of India, also witnessed a massive loss at the stock market after its market valuation plummeted by ₹35,117.72 crore to ₹6,96,655.84 crore.
Telecom giant Bharti Airtel's shares fell 0.94% and ended at ₹1664.40 per share on BSE, reducing the firm's market capitalisation to ₹9,47,598.89 crore.
The market capitalisation (mcap) of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) dropped by ₹23,137.67 crore to ₹14,68,183.73 crore. The valuation of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) diminished by ₹19,797.24 crore to ₹5,71,621.67 crore, and that of Infosys declined by ₹10,629.49 crore to ₹7,69,496.61 crore.
ITC's mcap fell by ₹5,690.96 crore to ₹6,02,991.33 crore, and that of ICICI Bank went lower by ₹5,280.11 crore to ₹8,84,911.27 crore.
Out of all the top ten companies of the Indian stock market, HDFC Bank emerged as the only winner in last week's trading sessions. HDFC Bank's stock closed at ₹1742.60 per share on BSE on Friday. The company's market capitalisation jumped ₹46,891.13 crore to ₹13,29,739.43 crore.
Reliance Industries retained the title of the most valued firm, followed by TCS, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Infosys, State Bank of India, ITC, Hindustan Unilever and LIC.
