India cement prices little changed on-quarter in Q3, says Nomura

Ramco Cements

07/01/2025 04:08

** India's average cement prices/bag rose by 1 rupee q/q to
337 rupees in the Dec-qtr, Nomura says 
    ** Q3 prices still ~11% lower y/y - data from brokerages
Nomura and Ambit 
    ** Nomura says hikes of 8 rupees and 6 rupees per bag in
north and west markets, respectively; declines of 7 rupees and 5
rupees per bag in south and east markets, respectively 
    ** Brokerage prefers UltraTech Cement  ULTC.NS , Shree
Cement  SHCM.NS , Ambuja Cement  ABUJ.NS , Ramco Cements
 TRCE.NS  - all rated "buy"
    ** Maintains "reduce" call on Dalmia Bharat  DALB.NS 
    ** Traders across regions flag demand uncertainty in at
least first fortnight of Jan, weighed by cold weather (north,
central), labour crunch (south) - note
    ** ULTC, SHCM, ABUJ, TRCE, DALB up between 0.3% to 1.1% on
the day
    ** In 2024, ULTC was best performing stock of the lot with
8.8% gains; followed by ABUJ's ~3% rise 

($1 = 85.7420 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru)
 ((Hritam.Mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com;))