Nifty CPSE index nears 4-year low; BEL tanks 9%, ONGC down 4%

Shares of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) continued to reel under pressure with the Nifty CPSE index trading near four-year low after falling 3 per cent on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday.

At 10:02 am, Nifty CPSE index, the top loser among thematic indices, was down 3 per cent at 1,720 on the NSE. The index has fallen below its previous low of 1,757.75, touched on August 23, 2019. It was trading at its lowest level since February 12, 2016, when it hit a low of 1,704 in intra-day deals.

Since January 15, 2020, the Nifty CPSE index has tanked 12 per cent, as compared to 2.5 per cent decline in the benchmark Nifty 50 index.

Among individual stocks, Bharat Electronics (BEL) has tanked 9 per cent to Rs 91.70 in intra-day trade so far. The counter has seen huge trading volumes with a combined 13.33 million shares changing hands on the NSE and BSE so far.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India were down 4 per cent, hitting their respective 52-week lows of Rs 111 and Rs 132. Power Grid Corporation, too, slipped 4 per cent to Rs 187, while Coal India was down 3 per cent to Rs 183 in intra-day trade today.

The NIFTY CPSE Index has been constructed in order to facilitate government’s initiative to disinvest some of its stake in selected CPSEs.

According to a PTI report, the seventh tranche of the Central Public Sector Enterprises Exchange Traded Fund (CPSE ETF), through which the government intends to raise at least Rs 10,000 crore, opened for subscription on Thursday, January 30 for anchor investors, and for other investors on January 31.

The sixth FFO (further follow on offer) or seventh tranche will have a base issue size of Rs 10,000 crore with a greenshoe option to retain a portion of the oversubscription.

Through the earlier six tranches of the CPSE ETF, the government has already raised about Rs 50,000 crore. The proceeds from the ETF will help the government meet its disinvestment target of Rs 1.05 lakh crore for the current financial year.

Meanwhile, the seventh tranche of CPSE ETF received bids worth Rs 9,200 crore on Thursday from institutional investors in its anchor book, Business Standard reported.

The secretary of Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (Dipam) in a late evening tweet said that the anchor book -- which had base issue size of Rs 3,000 crore -- has received strong interest from foreign and domestic institutional investors.