After hitting a record high of Rs 3,665 intraday, UltraTech Cement ended 2% higher at Rs 3,637.25 on Thursday. UltraTech, India's largest cement company, reported a 29% increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 780 crore. "In the construction space, cement is doing better than other sectors in terms of end-user demand. MUMBAI: Shares of cement companies have been on investors' radar lately, with many of them trading at their highest levels in a year on expectations of better earnings growth led by improvement in demand. Also, typically when monsoons are good, there is expectation of a pickup in construction activity over the next few months," said Pankaj Sharma, executive director, Equirus Securities.Rohit Natarajan, analyst at IDBI Capital, said the focus on affordable housing and urban infrastructure as well as trickle-down effect of good monsoon will lead to better demand for cement going ahead though it is yet to be reflected in the earnings.

Source: Economic Times July 21, 2016 21:10 UTC