Tata Steel is trading higher by 3% at Rs 406, bouncing back 4.4% from intra-day low, after reporting a better-than-expected consolidated net profit of Rs 598 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2012. Analysts, on an average, had expected net profit of Rs 530 crore for the quarter. Total income from operations grew 2.5% at Rs 33,821 crore on y-o-y basis.
The Tata Group company had reported a net profit of Rs 5,347 crore for the June quarter last year, which was higher by Rs 3,362 crore as it had sold its 26.27% stake in Australia’s Riversdale Mining to Rio Tinto for $1 billion. Sequentially, however, the profit went up as the company had reported a profit of just Rs 433 crore in the January-March quarter.
The stock opened at Rs 391 and hit a low of Rs 389 on the NSE. A combined 2.9 million shares have changed hands on the counter in morning trades on both the exchanges.
