New refinery deal pushes HPCL scrip higher

In the wake of the news that Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) has signed a joint venture agreement with the Government of Rajasthan for an upcoming refinery in Barmer at a cost of Rs 43,129 crore, its scrip has been outperforming the market although the benchmark indices are trading in the negative. The stock was trading higher by 3.57% intraday at Rs 449 per share on the BSE at 1154 hours.
 
The stock has attracted total traded volume of 32,37,887 shares and traded value of Rs 14,324.74 lakhs on the NSE at 1200 hours. Its 52-week high and low stood at Rs 462.40 (August 7, 2017) and Rs 253.56 (August 23, 2016), respectively. Meanwhile, the benchmark index Nifty was trading lower by 63.70 points at 9,840 and the Sensex was trading down by 243 points at the 31,551 level.
 
According to the agreement, HPCL will command 74% stake in the JV, HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Ltd., while the state government will hold the balance 26%.