It took 14 months for the Nifty 50 index to climb from its previous peak on 26 September 2024 to a fresh all-time high of 26,310 on 27 November. Driving that record were heavyweight constituents—Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and Bharti Airtel.
In the 14 months through 27 November, Reliance Industries pulled up the Nifty 50 index by 2669 points, followed by TCS which pulled the index by 2580 points, and Bharti Airtel contributed to the index move with 1638 points, as per an analysis of index weightages.
To be sure, these three stocks emerged as the biggest movers also because of their weight in the Nifty 50. The top five constituents of the index currently are HDFC Bank (12.85%), Reliance Industries (8.8%), ICICI Bank (8.3%), Bharti Airtel (4.7%), and Infosys (4.7%), according to the National Stock Exchange.
Mixed returns
Over the 14-month period, Bharti Airtel gained 19.45% and Reliance 4.3%, while TCS ended lower by 26%.
“Crossing a new yearly high typically requires strong support from large-cap leaders such as Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Infosys, Hindustan Unilever, and others,” said Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity research at Kotak Securities.
Bharti Airtel has outperformed the market over the past year, remaining steady even during the January–February correction, as its business was insulated from US tariff issues, said Dinesh Nagpal, an independent technical analyst.
Over that period, the Nifty 50 fell 5%.
Weight over returns
TCS still continued to pull the index with negative returns.
Rajesh Palviya, senior vice president, technical and derivative research at Axis Securities explains that when Nifty was falling and TCS was correcting, its heavy weight dragged the index down. But once other components moved up and TCS began to recover, even though it is not in the green or near its all-time high, that limited recovery still added a few positive points to Nifty because of its high weightage.
Moreover, the FII flows into these stocks also led to the move.
Palviya added that pockets of foreign investor inflows during the period also flowed into large-caps due to limited deployment options amid global volatility, tariff uncertainties, potential Fed moves, geopolitical tensions, and weak earnings in recent quarters.
Winners and laggards
In the 14-month period till the all-time high of 27 November, the stocks which gave the highest returns in the Nifty 50 index were; Bharat Electronics which went up by 42%, Eicher Motors which moved up 40%, and Bajaj Finance which gained 33%.
Among the ones which gave the lowest returns were; Trent which fell 45%, Tata Motors which fell 40%, and Bajaj Auto which fell 28%.
Nagpal added that for Nifty 50 to further rally and fall into new territory it has to be led by banking majors.
