Cement shares in focus, UltraTech hits new high

Shares of cement manufacturers are trading higher by up to 3% in an otherwise weak market on expectations of higher profit growth for the quarter ended March 2014, on a sequential basis, due to pick-up in cement prices and demand.

UltraTech Cement, Ambuja Cements, ACC, Grasim Industries and Prism Cement are up 1-3% on the BSE, as against a 0.56% decline in benchmark S&P BSE Sensex at 1330 hours.

With construction activity gathering pace in Q4, we expect a sustained pick-up in volumes as the political climate stabilises. We expect demand growth to touch 7-8% in FY15, driving sustained strength in pricing and profitability and possibly bringing the curtains down on the earnings downgrade cycle, an analyst at Religare Institutional Research said in a report.

An analyst at Angel Broking expects the cement demand to witness an improvement from the second half of FY2015, aided by recovery in overall economy and the formation of a new central government that would provide momentum to infrastructure activities.

Meanwhile, the world's two largest cement makers, France's Lafarge and Holcim  of Switzerland, have agreed the terms of a merger that would create a company with a market value of around $55 billion (33 billion pounds), the Reuters report suggests.

Among individual stocks, UltraTech Cement is trading higher by 3% at Rs 2,216 on the BSE. The stock opened at Rs 2,160 and touched a record high of Rs 2,220 on the BSE.

Prim Cement is up 3% to Rs 38.80. Ambuja Cements and Grasim Industries are up 2% each at Rs 207 and Rs 2,861 respectively.