Money on the markets

IOC shares surge

Shares in Indian Oil Corporation ended 10.96 percent higher on Wednesday. Its chairman said the firm aims to raise $4.4 billion in January through a FPO and that the pricing for offer was likely to be at 450 rupees apiece.

Shares were up as much as 14 percent during trade.

The Indian government is selling a 10 percent stake, while the company will offer an equal number of new shares to raise 20 billion rupees, making the sale the biggest-ever share offering in the Indian market.

Would you invest in IOC at this stage?

Oil marketing firms rally

Shares in oil marketing firms like BPCL, HPCL and IOC surged on Monday, helping the BSE Oil & Gas index close marginally in positive.

Shares of such firms rose amid reports that companies have received subsidy from the government to ease selling losses and on expectations that the government may deregulate diesel prices soon.

BPCL ended as the top performer in the index with gains of 11 percent, followed by HPCL which gained 5.3 percent and IOC which rose 3 percent.

Reliance Industries, India’s top listed firm, ended as the top loser in the index, with losses of 1.2 percent.

Do you think such counters would continue to rally?

Shares of oil marketing firms jump

Oil marketing firms posted decent gains on Thursday, with BPCL’s 5.6 percent rise vaulting it to the top of the gainers list in the BSE Oil & Gas Index.

Other firms like IOC, the country’s biggest oil retailer, rose 2.2 percent, while HPCL and Essar Oil ended 3.5 percent and 2.6 percent higher respectively.

The Oil & Gas Index closed 1 percent higher.

IOC does not want fuel prices to be revised too often, its chairman B.M. Bansal said on Thursday.

State-run refiners hope to work out rules for setting market-driven prices of fuel across the country by mid-July, two sources directly involved in the process had said on Wednesday.

Private-sector oil firms, according to one of sources, were expected to meet on Friday.

Does the rally in oil marketing counters after the price deregulation move make them attractive buys?

Sensex extends rise above 14,500

The Sensex ended the month with a flourish, closing 2.3 percent higher on Friday which helped it post the biggest monthly rise in 17 years as positive economic data lifted investor sentiments.

Helping the rally was better-than-expected GDP figure for the March quarter.

The top Sensex gainers included ACC, DLF and JP Associates, all gaining over 8 percent each.

Oil firms were in focus today, with the government indicating that it was likely to allow market pricing of fuels. HPCL shares surged 8.3 percent, IOC gained nearly 7 percent and BPCL ended 3.75 percent up.

Some oil marketing companies also announced their results. BPCL’s Jan-March net profit stood at 36.28 billion rupees, and IOC’s profit was 66.2 billion rupees.

Sector-wise, realty led the pack as its index gained 6.7 percent. Ansal Properties and Indiabulls Real Estate gained over 9 percent each. DLF was up 8.4 percent.

With the market displaying an uptrend, do you think touching 15,000 is a possibility next week?