Coal India jumps on overseas mine acquisition buzz

Coal India galloped 6.55% at Rs 398.50 on BSE, extending Tuesday's 1.31% gain triggered by reports the state-owned monopoly coal producer is seeking the government's approval to acquire 30% stake in a coal asset in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was provisionally down 93.57 points, or 0.51%, to 18,424.65

On BSE, 24.67 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against an average daily volume of 9.54 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 401 and a low of Rs 374.90 during the day. The stock had hit a record high of Rs 422.30 on 31 May 2011 and a record low of Rs 287.45 on 4 November 2010.

The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month until 26 July 2011, falling 4% compared with the Sensex's 1.52% rise. The scrip had outperformed the market in past one quarter, rising 2.80% as against 5.26% decline in the Sensex.

The large-cap state-run coal miner has equity capital of Rs 6316.36 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

The Coal India stock had gained 7.95% in two trading days from its close of Rs 369.15 on 25 July 2011. Reportedly Coal India has been in discussions with Indonesia's Golden Energy Mines for a possible stake purchase in its assets in a deal that could be worth as much as $1 billion. The company has earmarked Rs 6,000 crore from its Rs 10,200-crore expenditure plan for the current financial year ending March 2012 to buy coal properties abroad.

Coal India declares its Q1 June 2011 results on 12 August 2011. On a consolidated basis, the company's net profit rose 12.9% to Rs 10867.35 crore on 12.6% increase in net sales to Rs 50233.59 crore in the year ended March 2011 over the year ended March 2010.

Coal India produces and markets coal and coal products, as well as provides related consulting services.