Mumbai: Oil public sector undertakings (PSUs) stocks opened with a big bang and later rallied sharply at early stages on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on December 6 in response to resolution of the controversy over divestment in two oil majors.

Barely two days ahead of the deadline set for sorting out the issue, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and his senior colleagues on December 5 hammered out a consensus formula for the disinvestment of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) through strategic sale and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) via market route.

Starting unprecedently higher, HPCL rallied sharply on hectic buying by speculators and retail investors as well as foreign funds, brokers said.

Investors have turned optimistic that the decision would also pave the way for divestments of other PSUs that are pending for strategic sale, they added.

Reflecting the upsurge, the BSE Sensitive Index opened firm at 3,235.68 as against the December 5 close of 3,229.73 and later rose sharply to 3,284.33 at 10.45 am (IST).

Other PSU stocks like EIL, HMT, Nalco, Neyvilght, RCF, SCI, BEML and ITI Ltd were also quoted sharply higher and were among the top gainers during morning trading.

Investors, who were enthused by the development that is expected to speed up reforms, completely discounted another downslide in the New York stocks on December 5 night. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped by about 115 points and the NASDAQ Composite Index by 19.57 points on December 5.

PTI