Mumbai: shares soared almost 8% on Wednesday- the highest single-day gain since December 2023-after the state-run insurer's strong guidance sparked fresh  .

"The improvement in value of new business (VNB) margins was a surprise for the street and the management confidence in growth led to the uptick in today," said Saurabh Patwa, head of research at Quest Investment Advisors. Value of New Business captures the present value of profits expected from new insurance policies written.

The net premium income declined but the  expanded, due to the regulatory changes in the last six months, said Sneha Poddar, vice-president - equity research,

The stock closed at ₹940 on Wednesday. The benchmark Nifty dropped 0.3%.

"LIC has not participated in the rally in  , compared with its peers which indicates that there can be good momentum in the near term," said Poddar. "However, since it's a PSU stock, the momentum is not expected to be on the same level as the private players."