Mumbai: Bucking the overall weak trend, state owned oil companies, including HPCL and BPCL, Monday rose by as much as 5 percent on renewed hopes of fuel price hike soon.
Shares of HPCL gained 4.79 percent to close at Rs 328.95 and BPCL rose by 3.28 percent to Rs 385.30 on the BSE.
IOCL ended 0.37 percent higher at Rs 282.50. Buying was also seen in ONGC whose shares rose by 1.04 percent.
Brokers said the shares gained on reports that diesel, kerosene and cooking gas prices may be hiked soon while the government may separately take up a proposal to raise the cap on supply of subsidised LPG cylinders.
The Kelkar Committee, which was appointed by Finance Ministry to suggest a roadmap for fiscal consolidation, had recommended an immediate hike in price of diesel by Rs 4 per litre, of kerosene by Rs 2 a litre and of LPG by Rs 50 per cylinder.
Meanwhile, in the stock market the BSE benchmark Sensex ended 92.66 points lower at 19,691.42.
PTI
