Coal India slips to third slot in market valuation league…

Coal India on today (August 24, 2011) slipped to the third position after Reliance Industries and ONGC on market valuation charts, as it lost further ground after losing the top slot to Mukesh Ambani-led corporate giant yesterday.

Shares of Coal India today slumped by 4.6 per cent at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) to close at Rs 373.85, giving the company a market valuation of Rs 2,36,137 crore. This made Coal India the third largest company in the country after RIL (Rs 2,49,142 crore) and ONGC (Rs 2,38,783 crore).

The stock performances of RIL and ONGC were relatively better in a weak market. As against a 1.3 per cent decline in the benchmark Sensex, ONGC was nearly flat with a 0.02 per cent decline to Rs 279.10, and RIL fell 0.6 per cent to Rs 760.95.

RIL yesterday regained its position as the country's most valued firm, pushing Coal India to second position, while ONGC was ranked third.

Coal India had dethroned RIL as the country's most valued firm on August 17. Since then, there have been many twists and turns in the market valuation charts, especially in the top three positions.

Two days later on August 19, RIL briefly fell behind ONGC to third position in the market valuation charts, but returned to the second slot before the market close that day.

However, Coal India shares have come under tremendous pressure in the past few days and in today's intra-day trade, it touched a low of Rs 371 -- its lowest in a week.

Coal India's market value has fallen by more than Rs 5,000 crore since August 17, when it became top-ranked company with a valuation of Rs 2,51,296 crore.

At the same time, RIL's market value has risen by about Rs 2,000 crore even in an overall weak market in this period. ONGC's market value has also grown by about Rs 1,500 crore since August 17.

When Coal India topped RIL on August 17 to emerge as the country's most valued firm, it had ended the private sector corporate giant's over four-year reign at the top of the market valuation charts.

RIL had first toppled ONGC to become the country's most valued firm way back in late 2006, but the state-run energy giant later reclaimed its top position, albeit only for a brief period. RIL has managed to stay on the top since February, 2007, except for a few days last week.