Outbreak Of Hostilities Spurs Gains On Bourses

The stock markets have recorded a 2.65 per cent (Rs 15,700 crore) gain in market capitalisation in the last three trading days.

The volume of trading increased from an average of Rs 3,000 crore during the first two trading days before war broke out to around Rs 4,300 crore. Gainers outnumbered losers 1.4:1.

With this surge in the last three days, the market has recovered nearly 60 per cent of the Rs 25,000 crore market capitalisation that had evaporated in the first week after the Budget.

The 30-scrip BSE sensex has recovered 115 points in three days while the market cap of 1,600 actively traded stocks moved up by Rs 15,000 crore to Rs 5,66,040 crore.

Software stocks have led the recovery with almost all front-line stocks outperforming the indices by registering gains of over 7 per cent. The market cap of software stocks increased Rs 5,400 crore to Rs 90,654 crore, accounting for over one-third of total recovery notched by 1,600 stocks.

During the same period, the benchmark sensex reported a gain of 3.7 per cent or 115 points and broadbased S&P CNX Nifty showed a gain of 3.8 per cent or 38 points.

Of the 111 industry sectors monitored by the BS Research Bureau, 86 sectors showed a gain of Rs 15,570 crore in market capitalisation, which increased from Rs 4,27,556 crore to Rs 4,43,126 crore. But 25 sectors reported a Rs 822 crore drop in market cap from Rs 123,735 crore to Rs 1,22,913 crore.

Diversified firms stood on second position with a rise of Rs 2,148 crore in market cap, followed by banks (gain Rs 1,836 crore), fast moving consumer goods sector (Rs 1,393 crore), pharmaceuticals (Rs 587 crore), composite and alloy steel sector (Rs 543 crore), electrical equipment (Rs 431 crore), power companies (Rs 401 crore) and commercial vehicles (Rs 330 crore).

Meanwhile, refinery firms were the biggest losers in terms of market cap. Their m-cap eroded by Rs 406 crore from Rs 88,420 crore to Rs 88,013 crore. The other losers include cigarettes (loss of Rs 197 crore) and food products (Rs 88 crore).

Software major Infosys Technologies topped the gainers list with a Rs 2,427 crore rise in its market value. Its capitalisation increased 9.1 per cent from Rs 26,740 crore to Rs 29,168 crore during the period. In three trading sessions, Infosys