Hindustan Lever (HLL) has emerged with the single largest (21 per cent) weightage in the 30-scrip BSE Sensex. The dominance of Tisco and Telco in the index has hit rock bottom with investors moving away from cyclical stocks. On the other hand, tobacco-to-hotels major ITC, a big player in exports market, holds forte with Sensex weightage hanging around 10 to 11 per cent.
HLL, leader in fast moving consumer goods, has an appreciable value as investment stocks. The company, which has been growing at a rate of over 20 per cent during the last five years, saw its market price rising four times in the last four years _ from Rs 405 in April 22, 92 to Rs 1620 yesterday.
This investment value helped HLL play a stellar role in the Sensex. After having a Sensex weightage of 7.32 per cent (April 22, 1992) and 8.88 per cent (September 12, 1994) during the two previous booms, the stock has become a major Sensex puller thereafter. With the Sensex moving to an all-time high of 4548.02 on August 5, 1997, HLL's weightage crossed 10 per cent to 13.33 per cent. Its weightage took another jump to 15.26 per cent on account of the mini boom when the BJP came to power and the Sensex went past 4280 on April 21, 98. With the automobile and steel industries fading, the Sensex weightage for Tisco came down to 2.33 per cent from 18.58 in April 22, 1992 when BSE Sensex hit an all-time high of 4467.32.
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Tata Steel, with its market price falling to Rs 96.50 on August 13, 98 from Rs 552.50 in April 92, witnessed a gradual decline in its Sensex weightage. From a weightage of 10 per cent in September 12, 94 its weightage decline to 3.58 per cent on August 5, 97 when the Sensex scaled to another all-time high of 4548.02.
With Telco too falling from the investors grace, the scrip recorded an all-time drop in market price _ falling from Rs 595 in April 22, 1992 to Rs 136.60 yesterday. Its weightage in the Sensex decline sharply from 7.46 per cent in April 22, 1992 to 2.30 per cent on August 13, 1998.
Reliance Industries, which led to a recent market rout, saw its weightage climbing down from 12.87 per cent in April 22, 94 to 7.54 per cent on August 13, 1998. SAIL, with its market price falling to all time low of Rs 6.65 witnessed a drop in Sensex weightage to 1.87 per cent from 4.63 per cent in August 5, 1997.
SBI, Bhel and MTNL, despite registering a sharp fall in market price during recent months, maintained their Sensex weightage.