EVEN after showing sharp drop in net profit by around 70 per cent in the third quarter, the stock price of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd gained on Friday.

The stock price of the company gained 3.97 per cent at Rs 349.75 on the BSE with volumes of 6.26 lakh shares; on the NSE, it closed at Rs 348.65, up 3.6 per cent, with volumes of 24.67 lakh shares.

Dealers said the rise in the stock price was after a leading foreign broking firm upgraded the stock to `overweight'.

The main reason for the upgrade is that the oil PSU has seen the worst time, as with fall in international oil prices, the subsidy burden for the company would be low.

Moreover, the stock at current prices is quoting at 6.5 times its 2006 earnings, which is lower than the index price-earning multiple.

The dividend yield at more than 6 per cent is also an attraction for the investors, the firm believes.

Mukta Arts down on poor screen show

SHARES of Mukta Arts, a company into film production, have been falling in the last few days. Dealers said the fall is mainly due to the poor box office collection of the recently released movie `Kisna', a Mukta Arts production.

The talk is that a section of the market had a lot of expectation from the film. Since the movie did not do well on the box-office these players have sold their positions.

The stock price of the company closed at Rs 52.85, down 7.28 per cent, with volumes of 1.26 lakh share on the BSE; on the NSE, it closed at Rs 53.15, down 6.67 per cent, with volumes of 1.15 lakh shares.

Virendra Verma

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