Oil companies' shares soar nearly 6% on hike in petrol, diesel prices

Shares of oil marketing companies (OMCs) led by BPCL today rose nearly 6%, following an increase in petrol and diesel prices. Shares of BPCL ended the day at Rs 862.65, a surge of 5.67%, on BSE. HPCL settled at Rs 758.35, up 3.28%, and IOC climbed 2.64% to close at Rs 398.75. 

Petrol price on Wednesday hiked by Rs 3.07 a litre, reversing its 3-month declining trend, while diesel rates went up by Rs 1.90 per litre. Petrol in Delhi will cost Rs 59.68 per litre from today as against the earlier Rs 56.61 while a litre of diesel will cost Rs 48.33 compared with Rs 46.43.

State-owned fuel retailers IOC, Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) revise rates of the fuel on 1st and 16th of every month based on average oil price and foreign exchange rate in the preceding fortnight. 

Rally in these stocks defied the sluggish broader market sentiment where the BSE benchmark Sensex ended at 24,677.37.