India, Sept. 25 -- Over the past one year, the stock price of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), the state-owned market leader, and the most dominant player in the segment, has yo-yoed between just over '1,000 and '700. On September 24, it closed just below '900, with an uptick since March this year, and a slight fall since then. According to a media report a fortnight ago, its equity investment portfolio incurred significant mark-to-market losses, driven by broader market sell-offs and sharp declines in some of its major holdings.

LIC, which uses its huge cash flows to invest in stocks, largely large-caps or big companies, and acts as a market stabiliser during volatile times, witnessed downward trends in more than 70 per cent of the sto...