Cigarette maker ITC was the biggest gainer among the top, most-valued Indian companies, thanks to the spike on Friday after the good news from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council. The stock gained Rs 21,850 crore during the week to end with a market capitalisation of Rs 3,41,377 crore. The share price closed on Friday at Rs 281, a gain of 6.84 percent.
The spurt in the share price of the largest cigarette manufacturer of India came after the GST Council capped the cess on cigarettes at Rs 4,170 per 1,000 sticks or 290 percent ad valorem at its 12th meeting on Thursday.
TCS retained its top slot with a valuation of Rs 4,97,897 crore followed by Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) at Rs 4,21,928 crore. Infosys added Rs 4,570 crore to end with a market cap of Rs 2,33,882 crore. Maruti Suzuki ended at the bottom of the 10 companies with a valuation of Rs 1,86,957 crore.
During the week, only Indian IT services company TCS and state-owned oil explorer ONGC saw a fall in their market capitalisation during the week that lifted the NSE Nifty to lifetime highs multiple times. The BSE Sensex closed at 29,649 on Friday, just 375 points away from it all-time high of 30,024.
There are no major triggers next week except for the monthly passenger air traffic data that is released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. HCL Technologies will be taking a call on share buyback when its board of directors meet on March 20.
Most of the macroeconomic statistics, such as inflation and external trade were declared during the week.
After rising sharply since Tuesday and reaching a 16-month high, the rupee shed gains amid global cues to close at 65.46 to the US dollar on Friday.
FIIs were net buyers of Indian equities worth Rs 1,360 crore on Friday, according to provisional data published by the National Stock Exchange (NSE).
India's foreign exchange reserves rose $98.6 million to end at $364.10 billion as of March 10, 2017, according to RBI data released on Friday.
