New Delhi, Jan. 21: The stock prices of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Gail (India) Ltd have been clobbered again today just weeks before they come out with public issues — and the needle of suspicion points to foreign institutional investors, who have been accused of playing this game before.

Shares of both ONGC and Gail plummeted 9 per cent from their previous close amid a hammering of oil stocks.

Over the last few weeks, ONGC has declined 25 per cent from its recent high of Rs 990. It closed at Rs 747.30 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) today, Rs 76.30 (9.26 per cent) lower than Tuesday. Gail has declined 36 per cent from its high of Rs 310. It closed at Rs 198.60 on the NSE today, Rs 19.65 (9 per cent) lower than Tuesday.

Market mavens say foreign institutions are still bullish on Indian oil companies, but are hammering the stocks to depress the price for the public offering.

This allegation has been levelled against foreign institutions over and over again. In the recent past, they were alleged to have slammed Infosys ahead of its sponsored American Depository Receipt (ADR) issue.

IBP, the Indian Oil-controlled petroleum marketing major, has also seen its market price fall substantially ahead of its public issue. IBP is now trading below Rs 700 — Rs 694.75 to be precise — having fallen by over Rs 200 from its recent peak of Rs 912.85.

The market was expecting the public issue of these companies to be priced at around 12 times the profit per share in the current year.