LIC reclaims Rs 5 lakh cr market cap; stock hits 52-week high

New Delhi: The Life Insurance Corporation of India on Thursday reclaimed market capitalisation of Rs 5 lakh crore-mark after the shares of the company hit a 52-week high on the bourses. The stock jumped 5.34% to close at Rs 785.50 apiece on the BSE. On the NSE, LIC shares climbed 5.25% to settle at Rs 785.15 per piece.

With Thursday’s jump in LIC shares, the second-largest PSU by market cap surged another 19% this week.

During the day, LIC shares hit a 52-week high of Rs 800 on the NSE and Rs 799.90 BSE, breaching the Rs 5 lakh crore market cap of the state-owned insurer.

On the volume front, 1.55 crore shares were traded on the NSE, while 5.66 lakh shares changed hands on the BSE, during the day.

Meanwhile, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell 132.04 or 0.19% lower to settle at 69,521.69 points, while Nifty slipped 36.55 points to 20,901.15.

However, at close, the company’s market cap was just short of Rs 5 lakh crore mark at Rs 4.96 lakh crore on the BSE.

According to an analyst, LIC reclaimed its Rs 5 lakh crore market capitalisation on the back of hype around its non-par product Jeevan Utsav.

“We believe that LIC has a strong marketing agency force, while most focus has been on par policies, the agency team is capable of selling non-par policies as well,” the analyst said.