MUMBAI: Investors lapped up shares of state-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL NSE 1.56 %) on Thursday after the company said it will decide on a final dividend on May 26. Analysts said expectations are high that the oil marketer and refiner, which is high on government’s privatisation list, could announce a large dividend as the company is sitting on cash it received from the sale of its assets.
BPCL shares rose 2.1% to Rs 455.80 on Thursday. About 99 lakh shares were traded on both the bourses on Thursday which is 27% higher than the previous 10 days average. BPCL has received ₹9,876 crore from the sale of Numaligarh Refinery (NRL) in Assam to a consortium of Oil India and Engineers India. Also in March, BPCL sold treasury shares worth ₹5,500 crore of the company. Later, it acquired Oman Oil’s 36.62% stake in Bina refinery for ₹2,400 crore.
