RIL crosses Rs 5 lakh cr market-cap for first time in its trading history

Reliance Industries, the most valuable firm on the bourses, added another feather in its cap by crossing the Rs 5 lakh crore market-capitalisation for the first time in its trading history.

It has become the second only firm to do so after Tata Consultancy Service (TCS), which is now the second most valuable company in terms of market-capitalisation.

At 12:20 pm, the market-cap of the company stood at 5,05,970 crore on the BSE.

The stock gained as much as 1.8% to hit its fresh 52-week high of Rs 1558.80 on the BSE. RIL has surged nearly 11% so far in July and over 41% year-to-date.

Meanwhile, with market-cap of Rs 4,59,630 crore, TCS was trading 0.17% down at Rs 2,402 in the noon trade.

The oil-to-telecom conglomerate is slated to announce its earnings for the April-June quarter (Q1) on Thursday and hold its AGM the day after. Analysts expect the focus, both in terms of the June quarter numbers and the AGM, would be on the company’s telecom business Reliance Jio.

Brokerage Motilal Oswal Securities believes RIL may report a decline in its gross refining margin (GRM) in the June quarter.

"RIL is expected to report a decline in its GRM in the quarter, led by narrowing light-heavy differential and inventory loss of ~USD1/bbl. While we expect subdued profitability in the refining segment, petchem profitability is likely to increase YoY/QoQ, led by improved deltas and increase in petchem volumes," said Motilal Oswal Securities in a June quarter preview report.

GRM is the difference between raw crude price and total value of petroleum products produced by the refinery.

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL)

TATA Consultancy Services ( TCS )

Bombay Stock Exchange - BSE