Street factoring in Ukraine war-driven sustained spike in energy prices

Post hike in retail fuel prices and hopes of higher profitability have led to gains in stocks of oil and gas producers, and distribution companies

The energy shock is filtering into retail. Gas and crude prices started rising in December and spiked on the Ukraine war. Due to electoral considerations, the retail prices were not hiked until the five key Assembly elections concluded. As a result, there were under-recoveries through the last four months, offset to some extent by inventory gains.

In the last two weeks however, there have been a sequence of price hikes in petrol, diesel, aviation turbine fuel (ATF) and in compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The price of domestic natural gas is reset every six months (April-Sep