ONGC shares end lower on profit-booking

Paring early gains, shares of state- owned ONGC ended in the negative zone on heavy profit booking in an overall volatile market today.
The stock had gone up more than 4 per cent after its overseas subsidiary ONGC Videsh Ltd signed a deal with Russia's oil and gas producer Rosneft to jointly explore hydrocarbons in the offshore Arctic.
After surging 4.24 per cent to Rs 424.80 -- its 52-week high on the BSE during the day, ONGC's stock finally ended at Rs 405.25, down 0.55 per cent.
At the NSE, the scrip ended 0.65 per cent lower to settle at Rs 405.30.

The BSE's key index Sensex came down from its day's high of 25,175.22 by gaining 482 points, to close at 24,716.88 -- up just 23.53 points.
Igor Sechin, President and Chairman of the Management Board of Rosneft and Dinesh Kumar Sarraf, Chairman of OVL and Chairman & Managing Director, Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"The Memorandum paves the way for the companies' cooperation in subsurface surveys, exploration and appraisal activities and hydrocarbons production in Russia's offshore Arctic," the Indian firm had said in a statement yesterday.

The parties will jointly consider forming a consortium led by Rosneft and involving other partners.