Life Insurance Corp.'s market capitalisation crossed the Rs 6-lakh-crore mark after its shares surged over 8% to an all-time high on Monday.
The state-owned insurer's share price also crossed the Rs 1,000 mark for the first time. LIC had listed on the exchanges on May 17, 2022, at a discount of 8% at Rs 872 on the BSE and at Rs 867.20 on the NSE. The market cap was Rs 5.5 lakh crore at the time.
The market value of India's largest insurer slipped below Rs 5 lakh crore on June 6, 2022. But it started rising from Rs 3.86 lakh crore on Nov. 22.
LIC's stock rose as much as 8.73% during the day to Rs 1,028 apiece on the NSE. It was trading 2.33% higher at Rs 967.45 per share, compared to a 0.35% advance in the benchmark Nifty 50 at 1 p.m.
The total traded volume so far in the day stood at 3.7 times its 30-day average. The relative strength index was at 74, implying the stock is overbought.
Thirteen out of the 19 analysts tracking LIC have a 'buy' rating on the stock, five recommend a 'hold' and one suggests a 'sell,' according to Bloomberg data. The average of 12-month analyst price targets implies a potential downside of 11.3%.
In January, LIC received the Reserve Bank of India's nod for acquiring up to a 9.99% stake in HDFC Bank Ltd. The life insurer has been advised by the RBI to acquire the stake in HDFC Bank by Jan. 24, 2025, according to the bank's statement.
As of December, LIC had a 5.19% stake in the private lender, according to BSE data. As per regulatory norms, LIC's aggregate holding cannot exceed 9.99% of the paid-up share capital of the bank at all times.