Today, ACC climbed 8.98% to Rs 1022.55 and it topped the gainers list in BSE’s ‘A’ group shares. ACC’s cement dispatches stood at 17 lakh tonnes in June 2007, up 9.67% as compared to 15.5 lakh tonnes in the same period, last year. It made 17 lakh tonnes of cement compared to 15.3 lakh tonnes last year, a rise of 11%.

Today, the cement shares soared on reports that cement companies have increased prices by Rs 3-Rs 5 per 50-kilogram bag across India effective today, 4 July 2007.

Arvind Mills climbed up 7.88% to Rs 48.60 and stood second among top gainers in ‘A’ group. The company’s net profit descended 6% to Rs 119.56 crore in year ended March 2007 as against 127.16 crore in the year ended March 2006. Sales arose 16.1% to Rs 1844.91 in FY 2007 (Rs 1588.79 crore).

The third place goes to Bharat Earth Movers (BEML), which flared 6.42% to Rs 1243.70. The scrip boosted after its follow-on public offer (FPO), which finished on Tuesday, 3 July 2007, got a sturdy response from investors. The FPO of BEML was subscribed 30 times.

Cement maker Birla Corporation mounted 6.20% to Rs 281.75 and stood fourth among top gainers in ‘A’ group. Its net profit zoomed 159.41% to Rs 326.23 crore in the year ended March 2007, whereas sales climbed 28.91% to Rs 1566.91 crore in FY 2007 (Rs 1215.49 crore).

Apollo Tyre rose 6.10% to Rs 354.65 and stood on fifth place. Earlier, Apollo Tyres had hiked passenger car tyres by 2% in February 2007, in a bid to offset surging raw material costs.