Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 49.17 points, or 0.29%, to 17,217.13.
On BSE, 22,303 shares were traded in the counter as against an average daily volume of 3.51 lakh shares in the past one quarter.
The stock hit a high of Rs 228.50 and a low of Rs 222.35 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 306 on 28 July 2009 and a 52-week low of Rs 215 on 14 May 2009.
The stock has shed 6.42% in the past two trading sessions from its close of Rs 238.85 on 10 March 2010. The stock had lost 4.21% to Rs 228.80 in the previous session on Thursday, 11 March 2010.
India's largest FMCG company by sales has an equity capital of Rs 221.18 crore. Face value per share is Rs 1.
The current price of Rs 223.50 discounts the company's Q3 December 2009 annualised EPS of Rs 11.90, by a PE multiple of 18.78.
A 25% increase in grammage implies that a 200-gram pack of Tide Naturals, which costs Rs 10, will now have an additional 50 grams. So, a 250-gram pack will now cost Rs 10. The same goes for the 400-gram pack of Tide Naturals, which will now have an additional 100 grams, at Rs 20 only.
The volume change in Tide Naturals detergent comes at a time when the two multinationals are caught in a bitter court battle over recent television commercials - one of which (Rin commercial) has been pulled off air and the other (Tide Naturals commercial), modified.
Launched in December 2009, Tide Naturals, a 30% cheaper variant of Tide, has since gained 0.6% marketshare in the Rs 13200 crore fabric care market. Following its launch, Hindustan Unilever (HUL), India's largest consumer goods company by sales, cut prices of its detergent brands Rin and Surf by 10%-30% in January 2010.
HUL also also moved the Madras high court on the use of the word 'Naturals', claiming it misled consumers to believe that the detergent had natural lemon and sandalwood ingredients.
HUL also launched an advertising campaign, claiming a better 'superior white' cleaning campaign, which was later took off the air after P&G moved the Calcutta high court claiming the commercial was 'disparaging'.
Hindustan Unilever's net profit rose 5.4% to Rs 649.11 crore on a 4.6% rise in sales to Rs 4504.26 crore in Q3 December 2009 over Q3 December 2008.
HUL makes branded and packaged consumer products including soaps, detergent, personal care products and processed food. The company also manufactures ice creams, cooking oils, fertilizers and hybrid seeds.