On Thursday, owing to the decline in net profit of the popular cement maker Ambuja fell 1.84% to Rs 98.80 at 9:33 IST after net profit fell 3.1% to Rs 241.19 crore on a 6.2% rise in sales to Rs 1772.88 crore in Q4 December 2009 over Q4 December 2008. Temporarily, the BSE Sensex was down 319.20 points, or 1.97%, to 15905.45.

The stock saw a wavy path as it hit a high of Rs 99.45 and a low of Rs 95.05 during the day. Falling 5.14% compared with the Sensex's 7.60% fall, the stock has not performed well over the past one month till 4 February 2010 whereas it outperformed the market in past one quarter, rising 13.47% as against 1.97% rise in the Sensex.

The net profit crashed during the year due to rise of 146% in raw material costs to Rs 570.74 crore against Rs 231.72 crore last year. Initially in the year, fuel and power costs of the company also picked up by 7% at Rs 1422.75 crore due to large imported coal inventory. Switzerland's Holcim owns 46% stake in Ambuja that is India's third largest cement producer.

Ambuja has an equity capital of Rs 304.74 crore and its Face value per share is Rs 2. The company posted a net profit of Rs 1,218.37 crore in 200 as against Rs 1,402.27 crore in 2008, individually.