The S&P CNX Nifty advanced 30.10 points or 0.57% to 5,312.10. The index touched a high and a low of 5,329.55 and 5,242.15, respectively.
The major gainers on the Nifty were Hindalco up 3.61%, Reliance Power up 3.29%, Ambuja Cement up 2.60%, Sterlite Industries up 2.32% and HDFC up 2.10%. The major losers on the index were Infosys down 1.97%, TCS down 1.40%, Tata Motors down 0.97%, ABB down 0.85% and Cipla down 0.81%.
With the increasing infrastructure activities and slowing down reality sector, cement companies are tweaking their product strategies by switching from Portland pozzolona cement (PPC) to ordinary Portland cement (OPC). PPC is used for real estate development while the latter is used for infrastructure projects.
It has been observed that OPC is gaining momentum mainly in northern India. OPC constituted 26% of total cement sales during the third quarter compared to 16% during the corresponding period last year. However, in spite of the enhanced production, OPC is facing shortage in supply in the market.
Keeping in view the shortfall in production, cement companies are expected to add around 60 million tonnes of capacity addition by December-end. Experts believe that domestic cement companies are expected to witness an excess supply of cement in the second-half of 2010-11.