Essar Oil erases gain, ends marginally down

The stock failed to hold on to its gains and slipped 5% to its low of Rs 138. The stock finally ended marginally down at Rs 139. Around 2.92 million shares were traded on the BSE today.
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(Updated at 1122 hrs)

Essar Oil has advanced 2.5% to Rs 143, on the back 450% jump in net profit for the quarter ended June, 2009.

The stock touched a high of Rs 145 and a low of Rs 141 so far on the BSE. The counter has witnessed trades of over 1.2 million shares as against its two-week average traded quantity of 2.47 million shares.

Essar Oil, India’s second largest petroleum refiner, posted a net profit of  Rs 169 crore, a jump of 450% in the first quarter. The zoom in net profit is achieved due to a drastic reduction in expenditure.

The jump in profit comes despite a severe drop in turnover, which was recorded at Rs 6,597 crore, a decrease of 26% compared to Rs 8,950 crore posted in the same quarter a year ago, according to data provided by the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Expenditures of the company went down by almost 32% to Rs 5,939 crore in the reporting period as compared to Rs 8,950 crore.