Oil & Gas shares in focus; ONGC, BPCL, IOC, Cairn India hit 52-week high

Indraprastha Gas, Petronet LNG and Mahanagar Gas too hit 52-week high on the BSE in intra-day trade.

Shares of oil & gas companies, including state-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs), are in focus with most of the stocks from the sector trading at their 52-week high level on the BSE.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation of India (ONGC), Indraprastha Gas, Petronet LNG, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), Mahanagar Gas and Cairn India were up between 1% and 6% on the BSE. All these stocks were trading at their respective 52-week highs.

At 10:49 am, The BSE S&P Oil & Gas index, the largest gainer among sectoral indices, was up 2% at 11,861.65, as compared 0.24% rise in the S&P BSE Sensex at 28,311.70 points.

The oil & gas index hit a 52-week high of 11,879.42 in intra-day trade, has rallied 6% in past three trading sessions since September 29, against 1.7% rise in the benchmark index.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) member countries on Wednesday, September 29, reached a consensus to limit crude production and is considering cutting production to between 32.5 million to 33 million barrels a day (mbd).

“The OPEC news flow of a deal is sentiment positive and allows investors to be more constructive on crude price forecasts going into calendar year 2017 (CY17),” according to JP Morgan.

“In our view, the OPEC deal and the likely rebound in crude price should rebalance the trade somewhat as upstream stocks rally with crude, but broadly we need to see a decisive move beyond $55-60/bbl for a clear reversal of the trade. As of now we would continue to own Indian OMCs from a 12-month view and our top picks are IOCL and BPCL,” JP Morgan said in a report dated September 29, 2016.