May 13 (Reuters) - India's Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd reported a rise in fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday, helped by stronger refining margins and steady fuel demand.
o The state-run refiner logged a net profit of about 49.02 billion rupees ($512.37 million) for the quarter ended March 31, up nearly 46.1% from a year earlier.
o Sale of products rose 4.5% to 1.23 trillion rupees, supported by higher fuel sales volumes.
o Gross refining margin-the profit from making refined products from one barrel of oil-climbed to $14.27 per barrel in the quarter, from $8.44 per barrel a year earlier.
o Fuel sales rose 2.4% year-on-year to 13.0 million tonnes, driven by resilient demand for diesel and petrol.
o The company declared a dividend of 19.25 rupees per share.
o Shares of HPCL were up 4.8% in afternoon trade, having fallen about 23% so far this year.
o ($1 = 95.6725 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Bipasha Dey in Bengaluru; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)
