Shares of PSU oil marketing companies (OMCs) took a dive today after the Centre decided to hike the excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 1.50 per litre.
The move would come in the way of any cut in the retail price of petrol and diesel as the market was expecting.
All the three PSU OMCs - Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation - shares took a knock. IOC shares lost ₹18.25 or 5.04 per cent to ₹344.05 on the NSE. HPCL shares shed ₹37.95 or 6.56 per cent to trade at ₹540.70 and BPCL was down by ₹36.45 or 4.76 per cent to ₹728.85.
The fall in share price was accompanied by a spike in trading volume in these counters.