BSE oil & gas index nears record high; Indian Oil hits fresh high

BPCL, Indian Oil and HPCL were trading higher by up to 3% on BSE.

The BSE oil & gas index hit a fresh 52-week high in intra-day trade on Monday after a strong gain in shares of oil marketing companies (OMCs).

At 11:16 am; the S&P BSE Oil & Gas index, the largest gainer among sectoral indices, was up 1.3% at 14,146 as compared to 0.16% rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. The oil & gas index hit a 52-week high of 14,169 in intra-day trade today, and is 100 points away from its record high. It touched an all-time high of 14,269 on January 15, 2008 in intra-day trade.

OMCs such as Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) were trading higher by up to 3%, extending their two-session long rally on the BSE. IOCL hit a record high of Rs 410 in intra-day trade, surging nearly 8% in three trading sessions.

According to media reports, state-run OMCs, which control over 90% of the retail fuel market in the country, are mulling a plan that would allow daily changes in the price of automotive fuels. CLICK HERE TO READ FULL REPORT.

Castrol India, Oil India and Indraprastha Gas from the index were up in the range of 1% - 2% on BSE.

Antique Stock Broking said upstream companies (ONGC, Oil India) are expected to report sequentially stronger earnings on better net realization.

“While on average gross crude realization improved in sync with global crude oil prices, absence of any subsidy burden implies concomitant improvement in net realization of ONGC and Oil India.  A higher realization was however to some extent is likely to get offset by a lower production. Both crude oil and natural gas production for the both the PSUs is expected lower sequentially,” the brokerage firm said in a Q4 results preview.

We expect OMCs to report sequentially weaker earnings on a) weaker growth in domestic fuel consumption at -2% YoY in Q4FY17, compared to +6% YoY in 3QFY17, weaker refining margins, on weaker middle and heavy distillate crack spreads and plausible inventory losses on account of unfavorable movement in crude and product prices, added report.

COMPANY	LATEST	PREV CLOSE	GAIN(%)
B P C L	700.10	675.20	3.69
I O C L	409.10	397.20	3.00
CASTROL INDIA	433.50	424.05	2.23
IGL	1009.40	993.95	1.55
OIL INDIA	338.60	333.60	1.50
H P C L	542.55	534.80	1.45
PETRONET LNG	410.60	407.90	0.66
RELIANCE INDS.	1410.90	1405.55	0.38
O N G C	186.95	186.35	0.32