Bull run at oil counter; ONGC at all-time high

Is the bull run in oil and gas stocks real or artificial? According to a section of the market, the sudden ‘bullishness’ in oil and gas stocks is fuelled by price manipulation. Gail, HPCL and IOC surged to their one-year highs while ONGC zoomed to an all-time high on Thursday. The rally has seen the oil and gas stocks soar to 100 per cent since their close on April 30.

This spurt in prices also helped the BSE PSU index touch a new 52-week high of 2,286.5 points. “There is no rationale for the sudden jump in oil and gas stocks. Riggers are floating several rumours in the market. Some operators are taking advantage of the situation,” said stock dealer R. A. Podar. A rumour is also being spread indicating that foreign institutional investors have also shown increased buying interest into these counters during the past couple of months.

Gail touched a 52-week high of Rs 118.45 as 20.91 lakh shares were traded on the counter worth Rs 24.42 crore on the BSE. However, at the end of the day the stock closed lower at Rs 116.6, thus taking the gain since April 30 to 47 per cent.

IOC also soared to a new one-year high of Rs 429.3 before closing at Rs 416.2. Since end April, the stock has appreciated by an impressive 76 per cent. HPCL has also surged by 19 per cent since April 30 to touch a new 52-week high of Rs 336.1 before closing the day at Rs 331.25. ONGC soared to its all-time high of Rs 515 before closing lower at Rs 501.4. The stock has gained over 41 per cent since its close on April 30, 2003. However, the top gainer in the past one-and-a-half month period was Hindustan Oil Exploration zooming over 98 per cent. The stock closed at Rs 32.2.