IL&FS group's 2 firms shares advance 10 per cent

Defying broader market sentiment, shares of two debt-ridden IL&FS group firms advanced as much as 10 per cent Friday after the newly appointed board said it will take all the necessary steps to preserve the value of the group.

Scrips of IL&FS Engineering and Construction gained 9.56 per cent to settle at Rs 25.22 compared to its previous close. During the session, it had touched its upper circuit limit of Rs 25.32 after surging 10 per cent on the BSE.

Shares of IL&FS Investment Managers witnessed a similar trend and jumped 4.24 per cent to end at Rs 10.32. The stock touched its upper circuit limit of Rs 10.39, a jump of 5 per cent intraday.

However, stocks of IL&FS Transportation Networks lost 9.97 per cent to close at Rs 30.25.

On Thursday, the BSE tweaked the circuit limit for the shares of two of IL&FS group companies and circuit limit of 10 per cent each was fixed for IL&FS Engineering and IL&FS Transportation Networks.

Earlier, the exchange had set a circuit limit of 5 per cent for IL&FS Investment Managers.

The government-appointed board of crippled infra lender IL&FS group, which held a marathon five-hour meeting Thursday, said it will take all necessary steps to preserve the value of the group and its 348 subsidiaries.

It also said the board will meet regularly to draft roadmap for the future for the systematically important entity.

Uday Kotak Thursday, however, hinted that the crisis at the group is much more complex than earlier thought as the number of its subsidiaries and associates have more than doubled to 348, most of which have negative net worth.