Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) shares surged to record high on Friday, taking the fast-moving consumer goods major's market capitalisation above the Rs 6 lakh crore mark for the first time. A rise in the HUL stock in the past three years except the last few months helped the FMCG giant cement its position as the country's fifth most valuable company.

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HUL shares jumped as much as 5.83 percent to a record high of Rs 2,628.85 apiece on BSE during the session.

The stock ended the day with a gain of 5.37 percent at Rs 2,617.55 amid high volumes, outperforming the S&P BSE Sensex index, which declined 0.54 percent tracking weakness across global markets. The S&P BSE FMCG index closed 2.23 percent higher.

At the close, the market value of Hindustan Unilever stood at Rs 6.15 lakh crore.

Also read: Key factors and triggers behind HUL's surge

A total of 1.7 lakh HUL shares changed hands on Friday, as against a daily average of 74,000 in the past two weeks, exchange data showed.

Varun Singh, FMCG and Retail Analyst at IDBI Capital, is bullish on HUL shares, saying the company's Q1 performance was better than expectations.

Last month, HUL had posted a 9.6 percent jump in net profit to Rs 2,061 crore for the June quarter, over a 12.8 percent rise in revenue from operations to Rs 11,915 crore.

Also read: Should you buy HUL shares after Q1 earnings?

The HUL stock is up 3.78 percent so far this year, having risen phenomenally in the past three years.

Mumbai-based HUL - a subsidiary of the UK's Unilever - is India's largest consumer goods maker.

It is the fifth-largest company in India by market value, after Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), HDFC Bank and Infosys.

ITC has been declining in the past three years. Its shares are flat so far in 2021.

By the end of 2018, HUL surpassed rival ITC in terms of market value. In 2017, HUL's market cap had stood at Rs 1.8 lakh crore, far below ITC's Rs 2.9 lakh crore.

"The difference between ITC and HUL is business growth. HUL grew at faster rate and has become a more formidable player with the acquisition of the high-growth health food drinks portfolio from Glaxo... HUL is a more secular growth story compared to ITC," Singh added.

First Published:Aug 20, 2021 1:00 PM IST