Mercator sails high on strong quarterly data

DALAL STREET SPIKES

Mercator Lines was frozen at 5 per cent upper circuit backed by strong quarterly results. The stock gained on overall buying interest in the market after three day of sharp correction.

A head of research with a domestic broking firm said, "At above 6,000 levels, the markets are expected to witness stock specific action who have announced impressive quarterly results."

Mercator for the quarter ended December 31, 2004, registered a 316.66 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 58 crore as against Rs 13.92 crore in the same quarter last year. Dealer said, the counter has witnessed a strong momentum buy from foreign funds in anticipation of robust results.

More than 42 thousand shares changed hands at the counter in Thursday's trading. The company recently placed 6,50,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each to an FII at a premium of Rs 550 per share on preferential basis.