The Hindu Business Line : Selling pressure pulls ONGC stock down 3 pc

THE ONGC stock today slipped by over three per cent on some concerted selling by a section of market players, who viewed the results was below expectation.

The session-on-session volume rise suggested substantial selling. There were a few block deals also totalling 8 lakh shares on the BSE and NSE.

The stock recovered from its intra-day low on bargain hunting as some players realised that it may have to withstand lesser pressure on sharing of under recoveries of oil companies on LPG.

Since ONGC had a weightage of 14.31 per cent on the Nifty, higher than the Sensex (4.98 per cent), the downward pressure on the former was more on account of ONGC.

Mr Sumit Mangal of Khandwala Securities said though the market reacted negatively to the possibility of ONGC continuing to shoulder heavy subsidy burden, the reality down the quarters may not bear it out. "It remains strong long-term bait on solid fundamentals," he added.

According to dealers, the stock has a number of plus points - first being that it is one of the least manipulated stocks among the heavyweights, it is on a aggressive growth path, recent oil price rise also provides it a margin cushion and its is perceived to be enjoying relatively higher independence over other PSUs.

According to Mr Devarsh Vakil of Anagram Stockbroking, the company's crude oil realisation is expected to be at $34 per barrel this fiscal as compared to $28 or $29 last fiscal. However, the appreciating rupee against dollar remains an area of concern as it depresses the realisation on the oil produced by the company.