HPCL, BPCL and IOC rise 3% on hopes of hike in fuel prices

MUMBAI: Shares of oil marketing companies, HPCL, BPCL and IOC today rose as much as 3 per cent, amid the government saying hike in fuel prices was "unavoidable".

HPCL settled at Rs 310.65, up 2.86 per cent, while BPCL rose by 1.81 per cent to Rs 349.25 on the BSE.

IOC also gained 0.96 per cent to Rs 253.70. The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA), which is headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was scheduled to meet this evening but it was postponed without assigning any reason or fixing a new date.

"As I said before, however painful and difficult the increase in price of oil product may be, increase is unavoidable...," Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy said in New Delhi before announcement of CCPA meeting being postponed was made.

PSU oil firms are losing a record Rs 560 crore per day on sale of regulated diesel and cooking fuels and another Rs 16 a day on petrol. If rates are not increased, state-owned oil firms will be saddled with an unprecedented Rs 200,000 crore revenue loss this fiscal.