NSE shares fall after equity worth ₹3,225 crore free up for trade today as one-month lock-in ends

Shares of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. (NSE) fell over 1% on Thursday, October 22, as the one-month shareholder lock-in ends today.

India's third-largest IPO, will see as many as 18.9 million shares free up for trade as the lock-in period ends, according to Nuvama Alternative & Quantitative Research.

The number of shares that free up for trade today amount to 1% of the company's outstanding equity.

Based on Wednesday's closing price, the value of the 18.9 million shares that will free up for trade today, is worth ₹3,225 crore.

It must be noted that the end of the shareholder lock-in period does not mean all the shares will be sold in the open market, but they only become eligible to be traded.

NSE made its stock market debut last month, listing at a 0.8% premium to its issue price of ₹1,785 per share and went on to gain as much as 4%. At the high, the exchange's market capitalization had touched ₹4.65 lakh crore. The three-day IPO had closed with an overall subscription of 5.71 times the total number of shares on offer. Bids were led by the institutional investors, with the retail portion also witnessing full subscription.

Macquarie had initiated coverage on NSE with an "outperform" rating and a target of ₹1,965, calling it "the dominator" among the capital market plays.

Prabhudas Lilladher, Emkay and Asian Market Securities are three other firms that have coverage now on NSE and they too have an "outperform" or "buy" rating on the stock.

Shares of NSE are trading 1.1% lower on Thursday at ₹1,687.55, which is below its issue price of ₹1,785.