Shares of India's top manganese ore producer MOIL surged more than 5 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 386 on Wednesday, after the company informed stock exchanges that it has raised prices of manganese ore by 15 per cent.
"The company has fixed/revised price of various grade of manganese ore for 4th quarter (January-March, 2016) effective from January 1, 2017," MOIL said in a filing to the BSE post-market hours on Tuesday.
The prices have been hiked by 10 per cent with effect from January 1, on the existing prices since December 12, 2016 of all ferro grades of ore, it said.
"The prices have been increased...by 15 per cent on all grades of SMGR (Mn 30 pc) and SMGR Low (Mn 25 pc) on the prevailing prices since December 1, 2016. The prices have been increased...by 15 per cent on all grades of fines on the prevailing prices since December 1, 2016," it said.
It further said prices have been hiked by 10 per cent of all chemical grades ore on the prevailing prices since December 1 last year.
"The prices have been increased...by 15 per cent of Electrolytic Manganese Dioxide on the prevailing prices," it said.
MOIL produces and sells different grades of manganese ore. At present, the company operates 10 mines, six located in Nagpur and Bhandara districts of Maharashtra and four in Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh.
Manganese is used as a raw material for various industrial purposes.
As of 12:31 p.m., shares of MOIL traded 3.28 per cent higher at Rs 379.10, outperforming the Nifty which was trading on a flat note.
Trading volumes on the counter surged as 1.05 lakh shares changed hands on the BSE compared with an average of 45,000 shares traded daily in the past two weeks.