Mumbai: PSU stocks received a sharp beating at early stages on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on September 9 as the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment (CCD) on September 8 put on hold for three months a decision on privatisation of key oil PSUs HPCL and BPCL.

Reeling under pressure, both BPCL and HPCL dropped by over 12 per cent and 18 per cent at early stages and led a slide in PSU stocks.

Among other top losers were Kochin Refinery which was quoted sharply lower by 6.08 per cent, SAIL by 6.02 per cent, BEL by 5.55 per cent, IOC by 4.69 per cent, SCI by 4.15 per cent, BHEL by 2.64 per cent and MTNL by 2.04 per cent.

Looking at the overwhelming opposition within the government to the privatisation move, market sources said there was widespread fear in the market that the divestment of key PSUs like BPCL, HPCL and MTNL would not be possible.

IT counters like Infosys Technologies, Satyam Computers, Wipro, Hinduja TMT and many other second-line software scrips scored handsome gains on fresh purchases by institutional investors on the back of a rally in the NASDAQ stocks last week.

The NASDAQ composite index shot up by 44.30 points and the Dow Jones industrial average by 143.50 points last weekend.

Brokers fear that oil PSU stocks would continue their slide affecting the sentiment if the government does not take any remedial action, sources added.

The BSE sensitive index opened substantially lower at 3121.90 as against previous close of 3141.11 and dropped further to a low of 3104.82 before being quoted at 3115.63 at 10:30 hours (IST).

PTI