HCC shares pare yesterday's losses, gain 6%

Erasing its last session's losses, shares of Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) advanced by nearly six per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange today, after the Environment Ministry said the Lavasa housing project would be considered on "merits" if certain conditions are met.

Cheering the move, investors flocked the counter of HCC, taking the shares up by 5.7 per cent on the BSE to a high of Rs 42.10. The scrip had shed nearly four per cent in the previous trading session.

On the National Stock Exchange also, the stock surged 5.9 per cent to a high of Rs 42.15.

The Environment Ministry had yesterday said that the construction at Lavasa near Pune was "unauthorised" but gave a lifeline to it, saying the project would be considered on "merits" if certain conditions are met.

Lavasa Corporation, the promoter of the project, is owned by HCC.

It expressed readiness to consider the project "taking into account all the facts and circumstances of the case, particularly the submissions made with regard to the investments already incurred, third party rights which are accrued, the various steps taken for establishment for a comprehensive hill station development, the employment generated and the claimed upliftment of the area under consideration."

Meanwhile, the BSE 30-share index Sensex was trading at 19,020.32, up 71.73 points at 14:21 hrs.