Oil marketing companies such as HPCL, BPCL and Indian Oil suffered sharply on the bourses today following fuel price cut.

Shares of BPCL slumped 4.8 per cent, HPCL over six per cent and Indian Oil by almost three per cent around noon with heightened trading volumes.

This was the first reduction in three years as well as since pricing controls ended 18 months ago. The fuel will now cost about Rs 2 cheaper. The brent crude was quoting still higher at $111.51 a barrel.