ONGC regains top market cap slot

An over 4% surge in the scrip helped ONGC regain its numero uno market cap slot today.

Incidentally, both Reliance Industries (RIL) and ONGC counters have been on the uptrend since late last month.

At end of today's trading ONGC's market cap was Rs 179440.50 crore, compared to Reliance Industries (RIL)'s Rs 178870.94 crore. As can be seen the difference between the market cap of the two is quite narrow and this means that the battle will remain on between these two giants for the top market cap slot in the near term.

It may be recalled that, Reliance Industries had, last month, displaced the PSU oil exploration from the top market cap slot.

Media reports that ONGC plans joint ventures with Russian oil companies to acquire oil and gas assets in Russia and other countries lifted the ONGC counter today. The stock was also boosted by reports that that the government has firmed up natural gas policy.

At current Rs 838.95, ONGC trades at a PE multiple of 10.8 based on its six months April-September 2006 annualised EPS of Rs 77.54. It is perhaps the cheapest available Sensex constituent today in terms of PE multiple.

Reliance Industries (RIL) scrip has surged in the past two days after it doubled its natural gas output estimate from deep-sea fields to 80 million cubic metres a day. At current Rs 1283.60, RIL trades at a PE multiple of 16.9 based on its six months April-September 2006 annualised EPS of Rs 75.80.

Classic Diamonds sparkles on stock-split announcement

Diamond jewellery maker Classic Diamonds surged 5.5% to Rs 481 after the company said on Wednesday its board would meet on Nov. 9 to consider a 5-for-1 stock split. The board would also consider raising funds for overseas acquisitions. 12,896 shares changed hands in the counter on BSE.

The reason for the stock split may be to make the scrip affordable to retail investor given that it is not a thinly traded scrip. A company normally resorts to stock split either to increase liquidity in the scrip or to make the stock affordable to retail investors. The average daily volume in Classic Diamonds on BSE in the past one year was 49,598.

Classic Diamonds recently set up a manufacturing facility up to 2,25,000 square feet at Surat, the hub of cutting and polishing of diamonds in India. This facility has a capacity to produce over 2.5 million stones a month. Within this manufacturing facility Classic has obtained EOU status for 50000 square feet area. The company expects turnover of $ 150 million and export of $ 30 million from its export oriented unit (EOU) in FY 2006-07.

Recently, the company had started a venture with retail jewelers in the Saudi Arabian countries with its necklace product line priced below $ 20,000 especially designed for these markets. The company has set up separate team of designers to create/innovate new designs for this market.

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