Indian Oil, BPCL, HPCL fall over 4% as rupee hits record low

Shares of state-owned oil marketing companies are trading lower by up to 5% on the bourses after the rupee hit a record low of Rs 61.21 against dollar in early trades today. All three listed oil marketing companies Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) were down in the range of 4-5% on BSE. A constantly falling rupee against the dollar has become a cause of concern for oil marketers who import nearly 70% of the crude oil requirements. According to market experts, the rupee depreciation is negative for the state-owned oil marketing companies, which continue to import about 70-75% of their crude oil needs and rely heavily n foreign currency borrowings, which largely remain unhedged. Among the individual stocks, HPCL, the largest loser among the oil and gas pack, slipped 5% at Rs 235, while IOC was down 4% at Rs 216 on BSE. Both these stocks were trading at their 52-week lows. BPCL was trading 4.5% lower at Rs 350 on BSE.