Mumbai, March 8 (IANS) The market valuation of Larsen & Toubro declined sharply by Rs 45,629.03 crore this week, taking its total market capitalisation to Rs 5,43,208.36 crore, as a broad sell-off in equities weighed on India’s most valuable companies.

Overall, eight of the top-10 most valued firms together lost Rs 2,81,581.53 crore in market valuation during the week.

The losses came in line with a weak trend in the stock market, where the benchmark BSE Sensex dropped 2,368.29 points, or 2.91 per cent.

According to Ajit Mishra, Senior Vice President of Research at Religare Broking Ltd, markets ended the holiday-shortened week with steep losses due to rising geopolitical tensions in West Asia and a sharp jump in crude oil prices, which hurt investor sentiment.

Among the biggest losers, the market valuation of State Bank of India saw the steepest fall, dropping Rs 53,952.96 crore to Rs 10,55,567.27 crore.

The valuation of ICICI Bank also declined significantly by Rs 46,936.82 crore to Rs 9,40,049.82 crore.

Similarly, HDFC Bank lost Rs 46,552.3 crore in market value, taking its total valuation to Rs 13,19,107.08 crore.

Other major companies also saw declines during the week. The market capitalisation of Bajaj Finance dropped by Rs 28,934.56 crore to Rs 5,91,136.03 crore, while that of Tata Consultancy Services fell by Rs 28,492.44 crore to Rs 9,25,380.15 crore.

The valuation of Hindustan Unilever declined by Rs 26,350.67 crore to Rs 5,23,042.51 crore. Bharti Airtel also saw its market capitalisation slip by Rs 4,732.75 crore to Rs 10,67,120.50 crore.

However, two companies from the top-10 list managed to post gains during the week. The market valuation of Reliance Industries rose by Rs 14,750.39 crore to Rs 19,01,583.05 crore, while Infosys added Rs 3,459.99 crore to reach Rs 5,30,546.54 crore.

Commenting on Nifty technical outlook, experts said that from a levels perspective, 24,700 is the immediate resistance, followed by 25,000 and 25,150.

“On the downside, key supports are placed at 24,300 and 24,000, while a break below 23,800 could accelerate further downside pressure,” an analyst stated.

--IANS

pk