Taxes, downgrade hurt oil counters

DALAL STREET SPIKES

Oil refineries ended lower on downgrade by a foreign brokerage house, while ONGC was hit by imposition of new taxes in the Budget.

Oil PSU major ONGC was down 2.05 per cent to Rs 652.35 after the company said that several new taxes imposed in the Budget will hit the company's FY05 profit by Rs 300 crore.

In the Budget, the finance minister imposed a 2 per cent education cess on all taxes and also introduced a 10 per cent service tax on surveys conducted by oil exploration companies.

Others such as HPCL was down 1.24 per cent, BPCL down 0.44 per cent, Kochin Refinery down 3.36 per cent and IOC down 2.84 per cent on selling pressure.

According to market sources, apart from concerns of future earnings, sector downgrade by a foreign brokerage firm resulted in renewed selling.