Stock Market; BSE-PSU index

Bangalore: Last week, the BSE-PSU index with a gain of 0.9 percent emerged as the top performer in the Bombay Stock Exchange. BSE's PSU index gained 7.97 percent in the past one month, in comparison, the Sensex's rise has been only four percent.

Two out of every three stocks that make up the 48-firm public sector units' index of BSE have outperformed the benchmark Sensex in the past month. Investors have been buying state-owned company shares as an estimated Rs. 30,000 crore disinvestment programme has boosted expectations of reforms and increased institutional participation.

Among the stocks, Hindustan Copper gained the most, up 68 percent during this period. NTPC, which is likely to be the first firm whose shares will be sold as part of the divestment programme, gained 11.67 percent while NMDC, another company that has got the cabinet nod for a share sale, rose 18 percent. The government's disinvestment programme has raised investor hopes of policy changes or reforms benefiting the firms on the block or the sectors that they are a part of, said analysts and fund managers.