ONGC shares fell about 4 per cent in the early morning trade today — a day after the government managed to succeed with nearly 5 per cent stake sale in the public sector energy giant for about Rs 12,600 crore.
After falling nearly 2 per cent yesterday, the ONGC shares lost further ground in early morning trade today and were down nearly 4 per cent to Rs 276.30 on the BSE.
After an initial spike yesterday, ONGC shares had turned weak amid a poor response to the auction till the market hours and had slipped below the Rs 290 per share floor price set for the stake sale.
The sale of shares, conducted through a one-day auction on the two stock exchange BSE and NSE, finally got subscribed 98.3 per cent with total bids for little over 42 crore shares as against total offer size of 42.77 crore.
The auction was marked with a high level of confusion regarding the number of bids and the final tally was announced late in night, despite the bidding ending at 15.30 p.m.
The Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, however, termed the stake sale as a “great success” and said late last night that the issue could have fetched the Government nearly Rs 12,666 crore.