RIL shares hit record high

Shares of Reliance Industries (RIL) hit a record high of Rs 875 on Thursday ahead of its September quarter results on Friday on expectation of strong financials. Stock gained 3.82 per cent to close at Rs 872.50 on Thursday. The previous high of RIL was Rs 872 touched on September 20, 2017.

The stock has risen 61 per cent so far this year as against Sensex gain of 21 per cent during this period. "The Street is expecting superb numbers from RIL over record growth in refining margins and higher crude prices" said Rikesh Parekh, VP-Markets Strategy and Equities, Motilal Oswal. "Investors have built up long positions on Reliance stock ahead of the results."

Several analysts have upgraded their FY2018 earnings estimates in the last few weeks on the back of a sharp improvement in refining margins and stable petchem margins especially in polymer and polyester.

"We have increased the refining and marketing multiples from 6x to 7x, driven largely by the better performance exhibited by the company in its refining segment in an adverse environment, due to its better risk and yield crude management" said Swarnendu Bhushan, analyst, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

For the June quarter, the company has reported 28 per cent growth in Net Profit over corresponding quarter previous year. The company which was lagging behind TCS in terms of market capitalisation till mid-June, is now India's most valued company with a market cap of Rs 5.52 lakh core, Rs 65,000 crore more than TCS.