Shares of India's oil refiners - HPCL, BPCL and Indian Oil Corporation are trading with gains of anywhere between 4-6 percent, starting the week off on a strong footing.
HPCL shares rose as much as 6.5 percent, while those of Indian Oil and BPCL rose as much as 5 percent and 4 percent respectively on Monday. The gains are also coming on the back of heavy volumes. HPCL's shares are rising on volumes that are four time higher than its 20-day average, BPCL and Indian Oil's volumes are 2.5 times and 3.5 times higher than their respective 20-day averages.
Oil Marketing Companies have seen a sharp surge in share prices over the last few months as their financial health improves. While shares of HPCL and Indian Oil have risen over 22 percent each on a year-to-date basis, those of BPCL are up 12.5 percent.
Indian OMCs had suffered significant losses in the first half of financial year 2023-24. But the three refiners -- HPCL, BPCL, and IOC -- posted a turnaround performance in the last quarter of the financial year when they saw
combined profits of nearly Rs 20,000 crore. The profits came on the back of lower crude oil prices and improved margins.
Crude oil prices posted their fourth consecutive quarter of losses amid worries of sluggish global economic activity. Though the world's top oil exporter Saudi Arabia has now announced further output cuts that will be implemented from July, which could push up crude prices.
Saudi Arabia on Saturday announced that it will undertake voluntary output cuts from July following which its output will decline to 9 million barrels per day from about 10 million barrels in May.
