The share prices of refinery majors Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) declined today on across-the-board selling, following reports that the Centre has shelved plans to divest its stake in these companies.
HPCL settled 9.88 per cent lower at Rs 168.20, while BPCL slipped by 7.85 per cent to Rs 171.90. High volumes accompanied the slide in these scrips. Over 27.6 lakh HPCL shares and 21.92 lakh BPCL shares changed hands on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Dealers at an local brokerage house said, "Both these state-run oil companies were offloaded by institutions as well as operators as investors have lost confidence in the Centre's disinvestment programme."
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Dealers also added that institutions and high net worth clients had accumulated these stocks on hopes of earlier disinvestment.
In the last 15 sessions after the deferment of the sell-off by 3 months on September 6, 2002, HPCL and BPCL have shed 38 per cent and 32.3 per cent, respectively. The Centre has a 66.2 per cent equity stake in BPCL, while in HPCL it has 51.05 per cent.
Subsequent to the Centre deferred the privatisation of these firms for a period of three months, there were fresh reports that the Centre has ruled out divestment. Business Standard on Saturday reported that the Centre will now refund the money deposited by 35 merchant bankers, which had earlier submitted expressions of interest for appointment as advisors in the disinvestment process of HPCL and BPCL.
The merchant bankers are said to have paid Rs 20,000 each. This has led to a renewed selling spree, dealers said.