The BSE Sensex, meanwhile, was up 191 points, or 1.37%, to 14,357.

On BSE, 1.45 lakh shares were traded on the counter today. The scrip had an average daily volume of 3.18 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

Shares of India's largest engineering and construction firm by sales had hit a high of Rs 2439.90 and a low of Rs 2390.20 so far during the day. The stock had touched a 52-week high of Rs 2735 on 24 July 2007 and a 52-week low of Rs 1162.50 on 24 August 2006.

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) had outperformed the market over the last one month to 23 August 2007, declining 6.86 % compared to the Sensex’s fall of 9.78%. It had also outperformed the market over the past quarter, rising 37.8% compared to the Sensex’s slide of 1.22%.

From a recent high of Rs 2520.60 on 3 August 2007, the scrip declined 8.39% to Rs 2309 on 21 August 2007. It rose to Rs 2396.40 on 23 August 2007.

The company's current equity is Rs 57.31 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2.

The current price of Rs 2436 discounts its Q1 June 2007 EPS of Rs 53.11 by a PE multiple of 45.86.

L&T has sought shareholders' nod for raising up to $700 million, through issues that could include global depositary receipts (GDRs), American depositary receipts (ADRs), foreign currency convertible bonds or other equity related instruments.

It has also sought approval from shareholders at an annual general meeting on Friday, 24 August 2007, to authorise the board to convert previously issued GDRs to ADRs and list at Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange.

On 23 August 2007, L&T won a repeat order valued at over $70 million for construction of two ships from shipping company RollDock BV (erstwhile Zadeko Shipmanagement CV) of The Netherlands.

On 13 August 2007, the company had secured two more design and build contracts from Delhi Metro Railway Corporation (DMRC) for the construction of the underground station at Saket (Delhi) and a tunnel as part of its Phase II Project.

L&T's net profit jumped 139.83% to Rs 376.85 crore on a 29.57% rise in sales to Rs 4505.21 crore in Q1 June 2007 over Q1 June 2006. The results were announced on 19 July 2007.

The company manufactures a wide range of engineering products like earthmoving, industrial and chemical machinery, switchgears, valves and welding alloys.