New Delhi, May 17 : Conglomerate ITC's fourth quarter (January to March) 2012-13 net jumped by 19.4 percent.

It posted a net profit of Rs. 1,927.98 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2013 as compared to Rs. 1,614.36 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2012.

Total Income has increased from Rs. 7,145.44 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2012 to Rs. 8,511.38 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2013. (IANS)

Indian Stock Market recovered towards the end of the trading session with support coming on heavy weight counters like ITC, TCS and HDFC. Indian markets were also helped by the positive trade in the European markets. BSE Sensex ended the day 51 points higher at 19742 and NSE Nifty managed a close above 6000.

Brokerage house Motilal Oswal has given sell calls for SAIL, JSW Steel and Tata Steel citing tough times for steel sector. Motilal Oswal has given sell rating for JSW Steel with a target price of Rs 478. JSW Steel closed a per cent lower at Rs 844 today.

The Harvard Business Review (HBR) has released its list of 100 global chief executives worldwide and it includes eight Indian CEOs.

ITC's YC Deveshwar and late Subir Raha of ONGC were included among the top 20 CEOs in the world. Other Indian finding a place in the list were Subir Raha of ONGC, at 13th place, of Reliance Industries' Mukesh Ambani at 28th rank, Larsen & Toubro's AM Naik was ranked 32nd, followed by BHEL's AK Puri at 38, Bharti Airtel's Sunil Bharti Mittal at 65, Jindal Steel and Power's Naveen Jindal on 87th postion and Steel Authority of India's VS Jain at 89st position.

The January-February 2013 edition of the Harvard Business Review (HBR) has granted ITC Ltd chairman Y C Deveshwar the seventh rank in the list of the world's best performing chief executive officers (CEOs).

The list of "100 Best Performing CEOs in the World," released on Sunday, also showed that Mr. Deveshwar grabbed the first rank among the Indian CEOs.

The HBR put a spotlight on the top CEOs of the world who have created long-term value for their companies.

Indian Stocks market closed lower on Thursday as majority of stocks lost ground due to weak investor sentiment. The concerns of US fiscal issues has caused fall of Asian and European markets.

BSE Sensex closed 148 points lower at 18471 after Diwali. NSE Nifty closed 36 points lower at 5631. Among major losers were heavyweight counters including Grasim, ITC and Tata Steel.

Indian conglomerate, ITC Ltd has reported an increase of 21.27 per cent in net profits to Rs 1,836.42 crore for the second quarter till 30 September, 2012.

ITC had recorded a a net profit of Rs 1,514.31 crore during the same quarter of the previous financial year, the company wrote in a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The net sales of the company rose to Rs 7,146 crore during the second quarter compared to Rs 5,974.18 crore recorded in the second quarter of the previous year.

Indian Stock Markets opened positive on Friday but lost ground in afternoon session. The NSE Nifty was in negative zone at 13.52 IST. Asian markets closed positive with Nikkei 225 and Hang Seng closing the session with gain of 0.75 per cent.

The US markets closed positive, on Thursday. Dow Jones touched intraday high of 13269, less than 100 points from 52-week high. European markets have opened positive with DAX, FTSE and CAC showing marginal gains during the early session.

CRISIL Research has cut India GDP growth forecast to 5.5 per cent for 2012-13 based on lower foreign investment inflows to the country. The report has reduced the estimates from earlier 6.5% GDP growth.

CRISIL report also expects the WPI inflation to remain higher at 8 per cent. Indian economy is already struggling lower growth. The policy in-action of UPA government will result in lower foreign investment and can reduce growth in various sectors.

Indian Stock Market opened positive on Tuesday and has stayed in positive territory for most part of the trading session except for a decline at 2 pm IST. All the Asian markets closed in positive zone. Hang Seng was up by 294 points. The European markets have opened positive.

Heavyweight counters in Indian market including Reliance, ITC and BHEL dragged the indices down. Reliance was down by 0.4% after touching intraday high of Rs 742. ITC was trading at 246.5, down by 1.4%. TCS was down by nearly two per cent.

India's largest cigarette maker, ITC has reported a 26 per cent rise in profits during the fourth quarter till March 2012 mainly due to higher prices and strong performance of its food and agricultural business.

The company's net profit increased 16.14 billion rupees in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year till March 2012. It had reported a net profit of 12.8 billion rupees a year earlier. Market analysts were expecting the company to report a net profit of 15.7 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

ITC closed the fourth quarterly period of 2011-12 with an increase of 26% in its post-tax profit that remained at Rs 1,614.4 crore on a net income of Rs 6,861 crore that remained 17.6% up as against the corresponding period of the last year.

The company stated that its performance was driven by the healthy recital in the non-cigarette section.

Broadening its operations aggressively over the past few years, particularly in the FMCG space, the company now has presence in hotels, paper and paperboards, personal care as well as agriculture biz.

ITC Ltd has reported an increase of 21.5 per in net profit to Rs 1,514.31 crore in the second quarter of the financial year banked by strong sales of products and decreased losses in the other FMCG business.

The net turnover was up 17.5 per cent at Rs 5,974 crore for the quarter against Rs 5,083 crore due to strong performance in cigarettes, branded packaged foods, education and stationery products and agricultural businesses.

The U. S. International Trade Commission has said in an initial ruling that HTC had violated two patents belonging to Apple.

Apple alleges that HTC’s phones are using features that are patented by the company and are offered on its iPhone smartphone. The ITC administrative law judge said in the initial judgment that HTC infringed upon two of 10 patents Apple had filed a complaint over in March 2010, according to HTC.

Post-opening at 18,776, the BSE Sensex reached many different levels during the entire day. Earlier, the figure touched a day's high of 19,045 and even a day's low of 18,767 but at 3.05 p. m. (IST), the BSE Sensex showed the maximum up thereby reaching to the figure of 19,041 i. e. 314 points, up from its last close, reason behind being the constant buying binge in the index heavyweights.

According to the reports, the constancy has further lifted the main Indian equity benchmarks past key psychological levels in mid-afternoon trade. Also, the reports showed that the BSE Sensex easily crossed the 19,000 milestone whereas the NSE Nifty surpassed the 5,700 mark.

Technical analyst PK Agarwal of Purpleline Investment is bullish on ITC Limited and has maintained 'hold' rating on the stock to attain a target of Rs 180.

Mr. Agarwal said that the stock can be purchased with a stop loss of Rs 163.

Today, the stock of the company opened at Rs 168.85 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 184.70 and a low of Rs 128.50 on BSE.

Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 6.17 and 27.57 respectively.

Technical analyst Anil Singhvi has maintained 'buy' rating on ITC Limited stock with an intra-day target of Rs 162.

According to analyst, the stock can be purchased with a stop loss of Rs 150.

The stock of the company, on February 09, marked its closure at Rs 153.75 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 184.70 and a low of Rs 116.62 on BSE.

Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 6.17 and 25.59 respectively.

Technical analyst Sanjay Surekha has maintained 'buy' rating on ITC Limited stock with a target of Rs 190.

The analyst said that the stock can be purchased with a stop loss of Rs 160.

The stock of the company, on December 29, closed at Rs 174.30 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 184.70 and a low of Rs 116.62 on BSE.

Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 5.88 and 29.90 respectively.

Stock market analyst Somil Mehta of Sharekhan has maintained buy rating on ITC Limited stock with a target of Rs 190.

The interested investors can buy the stock with a stop loss of Rs 174.

The stock of the company, on Nov 09, closed at Rs 177.50 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 184.70 and a low of Rs 116.62 on BSE.

Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 5.88 and 30.20 respectively.

Flying high on agri-business and well-known packaged foods (FMCG), ITC Ltd serrated up a net earnings of Rs 5061 crore in the Q2, trailing up by 16.3 per cent.

Whilst the pre-tax proceeds of the group inclined by 22.7 per cent to Rs. 1830 crore, post-tax profits recorded a development of 23.5 per cent at Rs. 1247 crore. Further the Earnings per Share (EPS) for the quarter remained at Rs
1.63.

Stock market analyst Hitesh Chotalia has maintained 'buy' rating on ITC Limited stock with a target of Rs 185.

According to analyst, the interested investors can buy the stock with a strict stop loss of Rs 168.

The stock of the company, on Oct 06, closed at Rs 173.40 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 184.70 and a low of Rs 116.62 on BSE.

Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 5.57 and 31.13 respectively.

ITC declared that it was open to talks with EIH for a possible collaboration in the coming time.