Shares of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd gained almost 2% Thursday after the Reserve Bank allowed foreign investors to raise their holdings in the company to up to 49%.?

The stock went up by 1.90% to settle at Rs 998.70 on BSE. Intra-day, it rose by 2.54% to Rs 1,005.

On NSE, it gained 1.76% to end at Rs 997.45. In terms of volume, 1.35 lakh shares of the company were traded at BSE and more than 13 lakh shareschanged hands at NSE during the day. “Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs)/Registered Foreign Portfolios Investors (RFPIs) can now invest up to 49% of the paid up capital of BPCL under the Portfolio Investment Scheme,” RBI had said in a release yesterday. RBI said the decision came after the company passed resolutions at its Board of Directors’ level and a special resolution by the shareholders, agreeing for enhancing the limit for the purchase of its equity shares by FIIs/RFPIs. The purchases could be made through primary market and stock exchanges, it added. As of March 31, 2016, the promoter group held 54.93% stake in BPCL, while the public holding stood at 45.07%, according to data available on BSE. —PTI