Lost money investing in OMCs? You can make some by betting on oil producers

OMC shares tanked over rising crude as there is little scope to hike fuel prices in an election scenario; Producers like ONGC and Vedanta, however, are likely to gain

Investors worried over losses in their investments in oil marketing companies (OMCs) can save some of the pain by investing in oil producers instead. Worries that rising oil prices will hurt the profitability and financials of OMCs have led to their share prices falling by 15-26 per cent in the past three months, versus a 2.5 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. 

Past performance shows that oil marketing companies tend to underperform on the bourses during times of rising oil prices. While there are arguments that this time could be different for OMCs, as pricing of retail fuels has