D-Street Buzz: Oil & gas stocks slip led by GAIL India, BPCL; HOEC down 5%

The Indian stock market has erased all of its gains in this afternoon session with Sensex is up 20.65 points or 0.06% at 34391.23, and the Nifty up 7.00 points or 0.07% at 10174.50.

Oil & gas stocks are under pressure with Nifty Energy down a percent dragged by GAIL India and BPCL which shed almost 2 percent each followed by Reliance Industries which was down over a percent while Indian Oil Corporation, HPCL and ONGC also came under pressure.

Reliance Industries share price was one of the most active stocks on NSE in terms of value at 13:30 hours with 82,61,313 shares being traded.

Oil prices rose on Tuesday, boosted by hopes for a swift recovery in fuel demand as coronavirus lockdown measures are eased across the globe, but gains were capped by the spectre of persistent oversupply in the market, a Reuters report said. Brent crude futures rose 0.5 percent, or 22 cents, to USD 41.02 a barrel.

"As lockdown is partially lifting out, demand for petroleum products is continuously on the rise. Demand for petroleum products improved around 65-70 percent MoM in May 2020 and was lower by 30-35 percent from pre-COVID levels. Auto fuels, which was down by 55-60 percent in April is now down by just 25 percent YoY. Jet fuel demand is still down over 50 percenet which was down by nearly 91 percent," IDBI Capital said.

Indian Oil Corporation sees demand returning with the resumption of economic activities. The company said though it is on track to spend the approved capital expenditure for 2020-21, it has "critically examined all capex proposals for rationalisation of cost and time frame."

BSE Energy was also down over a percent dragged by Alphageo, Goa Carbon and HOEC which were down 5 percent each followed by Panama Petro and Selan Exploration.

Disclaimer: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd which publishes Moneycontrol.