Cement stocks rally up to 7% after SC eases petcoke ban

Shares of cement companies rallied in the afternoon trade on Wednesday after reports that the Supreme Court eased petcoke ban for cement companies.

Cheering the development, Kakatiya Cements Sugar & Industries surged nearly 7 per cent at around 1.15 pm (IST), it was followed by Burnpur Cement (up 4.65 per cent), Prism Cement (up 3.93 per cent), Heidelberg Cement India (up 3.84 per cent), JK Lakshmi Cement (up 3.27 per cent), Shree Cement (up 3.24 per cent), Mangalam Cement (up 3.17 per cent), JK Cements (up 3.10 per cent) and Star Cement (up 2.91 per cent).

ACC and Ambuja Cements were trading higher by 1.15 per cent and 1.38 per cent, respectively, at around the same time. On the other hand, BSE Sensex was up 142 points, or 0.43 per cent, at 33,370.26.

The Supreme Court allowed the cement industry to use petcoke as a feedstock, which had been banned last month to clean up the air in Delhi and its neighbouring states.

Justice Madan Bhimrao Lokur, while issuing the exemption order for cement units, asked the government to frame guidelines for the use of petcoke, according to the report.

According to market analyst, substitute fuel is at least 25 per cent costlier than petcoke.