Seven stocks spur Sensex

Thanks to the stocks of the Reliance groups, the 30-scrip BSE Sensex hit another milestone on Monday, crossing 19,000 points. It took just five trading days to reach the mark from the 18,000 level on October 9.

The Sensex has been breaking new records almost every fortnight since August 21, when it fell to 13,989 following heavy selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) prompted by the US subprime crisis.

The main drivers of the over 5,000-point Sensex rally since August 21 have been the three Reliance companies, engineering giant Larsen & Toubro, telecom major Bharti, finance sector behemoth HDFC and ICICI Bank. 

SUPER SEVEN
	Sensex contribution		Market price
	15-Oct-07	Change	15-Oct-07	% chg
Reliance Ind	2807.34	965.17	2664.15	52.47
ICICI Bank	1814.39	439.35	1096.70	32.08
Larsen & Toubro	1330.30	429.81	3415.20	47.91
Bharti Airtel	1132.08	315.05	1126.75	38.56
Reliance Com	813.81	289.94	752.70	55.58
Reliance Energy	445.97	278.47	1847.35	166.96
HDFC	941.50	246.78	2553.90	34.30
Sensex	19058.67	5069.56	19058.67	36.24
Note: Change in contribution & change over August 21, 2007

These seven stocks, currently account for 42.78 per cent of th Sensex weightage and have contributed 58.71 per cent or 2,976.68 points of the total gains of 5,069.56.

Three Reliance companies "� Reliance Industries (RIL), Reliance Communication (RCom) and Reliance Energy "� which together account for 21.34 per cent of the floating weightage of the Sensex, have contributed 30.25 per cent or 1,553.58 points.

The remaining four with the Sensex weightage of 21.44 per cent have contributed 28.46 per cent or 1,423.10 points.

The 5,000-point rally has many underperformers in the Sensex. The Sensex has appreciated 36.24 per cent since August 21, with 14 outperformers and 16 underperformed. Of the 16 underperformers, Dr Reddy's Laboratories has posted negative returns, while Infosys Technologies, Satyam Computer, TCS and Cipla have posted single-digit gains.

Reliance Energy, the power company of the Anil Ambani group has been the biggest Sensex gainer since August 21, up 167 per cent from Rs 692 on August 21 to Rs 1,847.35 on Monday. Reliance Energy's contribution to the Sensex has increased by 278.47 points to 445.97 as its weightage in the index has risen from 1.20 per cent to 2.34 per cent.

Tata Steel, the Tata group steel major, ranked second among the gainers' list, up 66.9 per cent from Rs 546.10 to Rs 911.4. Reliance Communication, the Anil Ambani group telecom company, ranks third with a rise of 55.58 per cent from Rs 438.80 to Rs 752.70.

Reliance Industries, the Mukesh Ambani group's oil, gas and petrochemicals major, ranks fourth in the gainers' list, with a price appreciation of 52.4 per cent. It has been the biggest contributor in the 5,000-point Sensex rally.

The Reliance has contributed 965.17 points, which is 19.04 per cent of the total gains.

Though the Sensex has been hitting new highs since August 21, nearly a third or 807 stocks that are actively traded have posted negative returns. These stocks have made an average loss of 6.31 per cent, with Rs 7,327 crore of market capitalisation being wiped out in the process.