Shares of Interglobe Aviation, which owns budget carrier IndiGo, hit a new 52-week high of Rs 1,128 apiece in early trade on Wednesday, taking its market capitalisation beyond Rs 40,000 crore for the second day. The stock has appreciated 47 percent from its issue price of Rs 765 during its November 2015 initial public offering (IPO).
At around 11.46 am, the stock was trading at Rs 1115, 2.27 percent higher from its previous close, on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). It has gained 28.76 percent in the past one month, based on the March 14 closing price of Rs 876.
In contrast, shares of Ajay Singh-owned budget carrier SpiceJet were trading 1.33 percent lower at Rs 96 on the BSE, while full-service airline Jet Airways was down 2.3 percent at Rs 499. SpiceJet had a new 52-week high of Rs 105 a few days ago.
The BSE Sensex was down 185 points at 29,603, while the NSE Nifty was trading 55 points lower at 9,182. Top Sensex losers were Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki and Power Grid Corporation.
On Tuesday, stock markets had snapped the three-day losing streak, with the Sensex ending with a gain of 213 points. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs/FPIs) were net sellers of Indian equities worth Rs 750 crore while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers at Rs 826 crore, according to National Stock Exchange's provisional data.
IndiGo is the largest Indian carrier in terms of passengers carried, commanding a market share of about 40 percent in the country's fast-growing civil aviation market comprising 12 players. National carrier Air India, Tata joint ventures AirAsia India and Vistara, Nusli Wadia-controlled GoAir and Zoom Air are the other companies.
Passenger volumes grew at a lower clip of 15.77 percent to 86.55 lakh (8.65 million) in February 2017 on a year-on-year basis after growing at >20 percent in the previous few months.
The data for March is likely to be released in a few days from now.
The current week is a truncated one for Indian stock markets as they will be closed the day after tomorrow for Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Jayanti and Good Friday.
