IOC, Hindustan Petroleum shares continue to gain, BPCL slips after fuel prices rise for 2nd day

IOC shares were trading half a percent higher at Rs 121.30 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) at 11:30 am, having risen 2 percent in intraday trade. In the past month, amid volatile oil prices on the back of Russia-Ukraine geopolitical tensions, the stock has given a return of 3.37 percent to investors.

The stock of Hindustan Petroleum continued to rise for the second day to an intraday high of Rs 288.40. The shares of the government-owned firm were trading 1.7 percent higher at Rs 285.10 at the time of writing. In the one-month period, stock erased 1.5 percent of investors’ wealth against benchmark Nifty which gained 1.5 percent during the period.

BPCL shares were in the red territory, halting the gains of the previous session. The stock, which slipped almost a percent in intraday trade, was down 0.05 percent to Rs 368.20 at the time of writing. However, in the past month, it has increased investors' wealth by more than 3 percent.

Brokerages are seeing the rise in prices of fuels as positive for OMC stocks with HPCL being their top pick.

Citi believes that the stocks should gradually reverse their recent underperformance the companies have finally raised the retail prices of petrol and diesel, after an over four months long pause. HPCL remains the preferred OMC pick, the brokerage firm said.

Meanwhile, global brokerage Morgan Stanley prefers HPCL and IOC and added that the hike in domestic LPG cylinder prices by Rs 50 is a positive surprise.

Shares of all other oil and gas companies, except Petronet LNG, in the Nifty O&G pack, were also in the positive territory, having gained 0.2 to 3.7 percent.

On the global front, Brent crude futures climbed $1.77, or 1.53 percent, to $117.25 a barrel at 0443 GMT, after falling 14 cents in the previous session. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose $1.51, or 1.38 percent, to $110.78 a barrel.