Reuters Market Eye - Oil and Natural Gas Corp gains 0.7 percent.
Disinvestments can be deferred till January, the Economic Times reports citing a senior govt official.
Some short-covering is seen as ONGC's free float shares would not increase in the interim - traders.
Govt aims to sell 10 pct stake in Coal India and 5 pct in ONGC.
At their current market prices, these two could help New Delhi raise two-thirds of its divestment target.
The Nifty <.NSEI> falls 0.3 percent.
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($1 = 62.2000 rupees)
(Reporting by Abhishek Vishnoi)