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Informist, Friday, Aug. 7, 2026

 

MUMBAI – While technical analysts expect stocks of cement companies to rise in the coming sessions, the industry is seen slowing down a bit as monsoon season continues and petcoke prices remain high. However, strong demand will help companies offset the impact of a prolonged monsoon amid likely price increases. Higher input costs, which hit margins of cement makers during the June quarter, are expected to weigh on margins even in Jul-Sept, analysts said.

 

While the risks due to high input costs continue to affect cement players, some are confident that as long as demand is intact, everything else is immaterial. Some companies expect the flow-through of surge in fuel, cement bag, and other costs arising from war in West Asia to be delayed. UltraTech Cement in its analysts concall had said that it is hopeful of strong demand momentum making way for higher or steady cement prices helping the company offset these cost increases. 

 

"Going ahead, input cost trends, cement prices and housing/infrastructure demand shall remain the key earnings drivers," Nuvama Institutional Equities said in a report earlier in the week. "We maintain a neutral stance on the cement sector," it added. "Bengaluru is likely to witness an attempt to hike prices by ~INR15/bag (trade) and ~INR10/bag (non trade) soon," it added.

 

Petcoke prices have increased up to $141 per tonne, after falling by $27 a tonne as compared to their recent peak. Higher fuel and packaging costs affected profitability in June quarter, Nuvama said, adding that it will continue to weigh in the September quarter as well. The brokerage sees volume growth in Oct-Mar to be closely monitored while JK Cement remains its top pick. 

 

The Nifty Cement index, launched by the National Stock Exchange of India in February, ended at 15,442 points, up 21.15 points, or 0.1%. The index continued to maintain a "positive technical structure," Ashish Sherigar, senior technical and derivatives analyst with NVS Brokerage said. The index is trading above its 20-day double exponential moving average at 15,344, indicating that the bullish momentum is intact.

 

"The immediate resistance is placed at 15,780, followed by 16,000 on a sustained breakout. On the downside, 15,175 is the key support level. A decisive break below this support could weaken the trend and drag the index towards 14,950 and 14,700," Sherigar said. The analyst is bullish on UltraTech Cement and Grasim Industries, while he expects all the other cement index constituents to remain in a range or to fall as of now. Grasim Industries closed 3.5% higher and India Cements ended up 1.3%, the top gainers in the cement index. Meanwhile, Nuvoco Vistas Corp. which ended 2% lower was the worst hit among its peers. 

 

TOP HEADLINES

 

* Prism Johnson consol PAT surges manifold YoY in Apr-Jun
* India Ratings raises rating on Prism Johnson's NCDs, loan facilities to AA-
* Analyst Concall: JK Lakshmi Cement sees FY28 capex at INR 20 billion
* Earnings Outlook: Grasim Q1 revenue seen up but brokerages split on PAT
* ACC's ex-company secretary gets SEBI warning letter for compliance failure
* Earnings Review: JK Lakshmi Cement Q1 PAT falls as expenses outpace revenue
* ICRA assigns 'AAA' rating to Ambuja Cements' long-term bank facilities
* Analyst Concall:Shree Cement sees fuel cost stabilising from 'almost' peak Q1
* Analyst Concall: Shree Cement says its fuel costs have "almost" peaked

 

Following are the resistance and support levels for key cement stocks for next week as per calculations based on their prices on the National Stock Exchange:

 

 

Company	Price	Week-on-week  change in %	Resistance	Support
ACC LTD	1,362.80	0.40	1,379.50	1,351.70
AMBUJA CEMENTS LTD	434.00	0.40	440.80	428.40
ANDHRA CEMENTS LTD	47.95	0.70	49.40	46.50
GRASIM INDUSTRIES LTD	3,323.00	7.20	3,451.80	3,118.60
JK CEMENT LTD	5,379.50	(-)1.20	5,457.20	5,322.20
JK LAKSHMI CEMENT LTD	565.00	0.10	581.50	555.00
SAGAR CEMENTS LTD	173.01	(-)0.60	177.20	170.30
SHREE CEMENT LTD	26,010.00	(-)0.20	26,470.00	25,780.00
ULTRATECH CEMENT LTD	12,105.00	1.70	12,195.00	11,925.00
INDIA CEMENTS LTD	398.15	0.00	404.90	386.80
Index	Levels
NIFTY 50	24570.65	0.80	24682.30	24467.00
BSE SENSEX	78499.17	0.50	78924.90	78164.20

 

End

 

US$1 = INR 95.21

 

Reported by Gopika Balasubramanium

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

 

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