With the Centre formally announcing a postponement in the divestment of its stakes in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) and BPCL by three months on Saturday, a market that was on tender hooks is expected to take a plunge in forthcoming trading sessions beginning Monday, said market operators.Dealers from the domestic brokerages opined that the delay in the disinvestment process by three months in these refinery majors will spell disaster for domestic markets as their confidence in the disinvestment ministry has received a rude shock. Investors hopes were still buoyant just before the crucial CCD meet on Saturday.“Although the market shall be initially disappointed by the delay in divestment of HPCL and BPCL, as a result of which PSU sector stocks shall take the beating, it is likely that the interest of investors shall shift into the tech and pharma sectors that shall prove to be a saving grace to the benchmark indices of the domestic markets” said HDFC Bank’s country-head, equities and private banking group, Abhay Aima. Reiterating much the same opinion, was Pranav Securities’ executive director Rajesh Jain: “The markets were expecting a delay in the disinvestment procedure in the PSU sector refinery majors, and now it is likely to provide a political breather to them”.Slightly more optimistic dealers are of the opinion that the market sentiments over the past week prove that investors were expecting a delay in the divestment and since a definite period of three months have been announced, stocks of PSU majors may revive gradually after taking a beating in the immediate forthcoming trading sessions. At Friday’s close, BPCL slipped a considerable 3.7 per cent to close at Rs 254 as against its previous close at Rs 263.85 while HPCL closed at Rs 271.20, 0.4 per cent lower than its previous close at Rs 272.30.
