More Stories

Informist, Monday, May 5, 2025

By Anjana Therese Antony

MUMBAI – The sharp fall in global crude oil prices turned bulls to oil refining companies in India Monday, whose share prices closed higher. Crude oil prices tumbled, with Brent crude oil futures falling to around $58 per barrel from over $61 Friday as eight member nations of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies agreed to continue to increase production by 411,000 barrels per day for the second consecutive month in June. A fall in crude oil prices will boost the profitability of refining companies. 

Shares of Indian Oil Corp., Bharat Petroleum Corp., and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. closed 3-6% higher Monday. HPCL closed over 6% higher at INR 409.85 on the National Stock Exchange. Premiums on HPCL call options of INR 410-INR 450 rose 135-178%, while those on put options of INR 410-INR 370 declined 49-63%. The highest open interest addition was at INR 450 call and INR 400 put contracts. Traders also added long positions in the May futures series of HPCL, with the open interest rising over 6% to 49.48 million. Similar trends were seen in the derivatives chains of BPCL and IOC. 

The rise in HPCL's share price was despite a likely weak March quarter results, due Tueday. The state-owned refiner is expected to post a 37% on-year fall in its net profit to INR 18 billion and a 6% decline in revenue to INR 1.1 trillion, according to an average of estimates from 11 brokerages. 

BPCL reported an on-year decline in both top line and bottom line in the March quarter. But BPCL's shares rose after the company said it plans to increase its margin by procuring more crude from Russia. "Only everything depends on the Russian discount. Russian discounts are still continuing at $3-$3.5 (per barrel). Refining margins will be better," BPCL's Chief Financial Officer V.R.K. Gupta said in a post-earnings call with analysts Friday. Oil marketing companies in India have been procuring crude from Russia at a discounted price, but the availability fell significantly during the March quarter due to increased buying by Turkey and Syria from the country. 

The overall Indian equity market is likely to rise more in the near term, though gains could be capped due to the slowdown in earnings growth and on a hazy outlook on US tariffs, analysts said. While the market is expected to have factored in most of the negatives concerning tariffs and the diplomatic tension between India and Pakistan, analysts said it is too early to believe that the worst is behind. "It's too early to assume tariff-related shocks are completely behind us. Given the unpredictability of global trade policies, particularly from the US and China, fresh disruptions cannot be ruled out," Nirav Karkera, head of research at Fisdome, said. 

--Nifty 50 May closed at 24567.00, up 166.30 points; 105.85-point premium to the spot index

--Nifty 50 Jun closed at 24673.00, up 165.70 points; 211.85-point premium to the spot index

--Nifty 50 Jul closed at 24808.00, up 169.00 points; 346.85-point premium to the spot index

Kotak Mahindra Bank, State Bank of India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance Industries, Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Bajaj Finance, Eternal, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, Central Depository Services India, Hindustan Petroleum Corp., Adani Green Energy, and ICICI Bank were the most active underlying stocks Monday.  End

Edited by Saji George Titus

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2025. All rights reserved.