INDIA AGAIN IN Rs.100 LAKH CRORE CLUB

Boosted by a rally in stocks, the total market valuation of listed companies at the BSE regained the Rs 100 lakh crore mark today. The total market capitalisation of BSE listed companies stood at Rs 1,01,68,542 crore at the end of trade today. Investor wealth of BSE-listed firms, measured by market capitalisation, had on last Monday slipped below the Rs 100 lakh crore mark. The benchmark BSE Sensex today soared 479.28 points to settle at 27,490.59 on across-the-board buying. "After the long weekend, markets witnessed a jubilant start today and posted gain of close to two per cent by the end. "Buying in auto space too supported the sentiments with most of the companies releasing better-than-expected monthly sales data for April," said Jayant Manglik, President-retail distribution, Religare Securities Ltd. Traders also attributed the rebound to value-buying from an "over-sold" position after persistent selling in April. The 30-Sensex companies, which are among the biggest in the country, now account for nearly 50 per cent or about Rs 44 lakh crore of total investor wealth. BSE is among the world's 10 largest exchanges in terms of market value while it is the biggest globally for number of firms listed on its platform. It has over 4,200 actively traded companies and over 2.7 crore investors trade on it. The total market valuation of all listed firms on the BSE had hit a record high of Rs 100 trillion in November 2014. The total market cap has more than doubled in the last five years from Rs 50 lakh crore in 2009 while it has grown 10 times ever since it scaled the Rs 10 lakh crore summit in 2003. Among the 30-Sensex stocks, 27 ended the day with gains, led by ONGC, Bajaj Auto and Cipla. Among the BSE sectoral indices, Oil & Gas rose by 3.52 per cent, followed by Realty (2.51 per cent), Healthcare (2.35 per cent), FMCG (2.08 per cent), Power (2 per cent), Consumer Durable (1.82 per cent), IT (1.68 per cent), Auto (1.55 per cent) and Metal (1.54 per cent). At the BSE, 1,951 stocks advanced, 831 declined, while 106 remained unchanged.