MRPL, OIL, HPCL, BPCL, GAIL shares rise up to 18%; RIL down even as oil & gas index lead sectoral gainers

With a gain of 2.3 per cent, the BSE Oil & Gas index was leading gainers on BSE sectoral indices in Thursday's trade, thanks to buying interest in index constituents such as HPCL, BPCL, GAIL Ltd and ONGC Ltd. The index was up even as the heavyweight Reliance Industries fell about 1 per cent in trade. MRPL and Oil India, two non-index constituents, also climbed up to 18 per cent.

Among oil stocks, MRPL gained 17.53 per cent to hit high of Rs 240. Oil India shares hit a record high of Rs 575.45 on BSE and was up 15.33 per cent for the day. Marketmen tracking the stock suggested targets for the stock in the Rs 560-670 range following the company's quarterly results.

Among oil marketing companies (OMCs), HPCL jumped 5.46 per cent to Rs 572.05, BPCL advanced 4.31 per cent to Rs 650.50 and IOC added 2.94 per cent to Rs 189.10. In the case of OMCs, Systematix Institutional Equities noted that the government has pushed its plan to infuse equity to the next fiscal year while slashing proposed amount to Rs 15,000 crore. This, it said, means the planned rights issue by IOCL and BPCL, and preference allotment by HPCL will be delayed.

GAIL jumped 3.55 per cent to Rs 182.55. In the case of GAIL, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) recently approved equity investment by Coal India (CIL) in Coal-to-SNG (Synthetic Natural Gas) Project at ECL command area through a joint venture of CIL and GAIL.

"For GAIL, we see this as another step towards broadening the earnings base and as a building block towards eventually developing coal to chemical capabilities," Motilal Oswal said. The brokerage suggested a target of Rs 200 on the stock.

ONGC rose 3.24 per cent to Rs 277.60. On ONGC, Sharekhn has maintained 'Hold' with a revised target of Rs 275, as the steep run-up of 72 epr cent in its stock price in the last one year limits any meaningful upside, the brokerage said.

Petronet LNG and IGL also added up to 2.5 per cent. Reliance Indusries fell 0.76 per cent to Rs 2,940.

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