Indian oil marketing companies gain as US Fed hikes interest rates

The US Federal Reserve, which decided to raise its interest rates by 25 bps has finally brought cheer to the Indian oil marketing companies. The shares of IOCL, BPCL, Petronet, HPCL are up in the range of 3 to 0.45 per cent. Oil prices dropped as Fed raised interest rates. International Brent crude on December 14, fell four per cent.  U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures settled down at 3.7 per cent, to 51.04 dollar a barrel. 

On the other hand, the rate hike boosted the dollar, making greenback-traded fuel imports more expensive for countries using other currencies at home. The Brent crude oil is trading at 53.94 dollar per barrel. The prices fell severely following a reported rise in US inventories and on an estimation that the OPEC may have produced more crude than anticipated in the month of November.

Meanwhile, the Indian markets have recovered smartly. The Sensex, which opened down by 105 points, as at 10.56 am is trading at 26664.06 up by 61.22 points. Nifty, on the other hand, is trading with a gain of 22 points at 8204.85.