The same Brent print hits eight Nifty sectors three different ways.
Direction relative to a Brent move, based on cost-line and revenue-line exposure on each sector's published earnings statements. Reads top-down: amplifiers gain when crude rallies, absorbers barely notice, negative-beta names quietly bleed.
Amplifiers . crude up = earnings up
revenue line is crude itself
Upstream Oil and Gas
ONGC . OIL INDIA
Realisation per barrel moves with Brent minus a windfall tax band. Higher Brent flows almost directly to topline.
Integrated Energy
RELIANCE . GAIL
Refining margins (GRMs) and gas-link contracts widen on rising crude until demand destruction kicks in past 110.
Absorbers . near zero direct line
priced in dollars or rupees, not barrels
IT Services
TCS . INFY . HCLTECH
Costs are people. Revenue is in dollars. No barrel anywhere in the income statement. Crude prints land like weather news.
Private Banks
HDFCBANK . ICICIBANK
Indirect through inflation and rate path, not direct. Pass-through is slow and gets washed out by deposit-cost moves.
FMCG and Pharma
HUL . NESTLEIND . SUNPHARMA
Margin twitch on packaging and logistics, never the headline. Pricing power absorbs most of the cost ripple over a quarter.
Negative beta . crude up = earnings down
crude is a cost line, not a revenue line
ATF (jet fuel) is roughly 40 pct of operating cost. Hedging covers a slice. The rest hits margin in the same quarter.
Paints and Tyres
ASIANPAINT . APOLLOTYRE . MRF
Crude derivatives (TiO2 binders, monomers, synthetic rubber, carbon black) are 30 to 50 pct of inputs. Pass-through lags one to two quarters.
OMC retail (the weird one)
BPCL . HPCL . IOC
Retail fuel prices stay sticky while Brent moves. Marketing margin compresses on rallies, expands on falls. The opposite of "energy stock".
Beta values are directional shorthand based on cost-line and revenue-line exposure published in company filings, not formal regression coefficients. Real betas drift with hedge programmes, government pricing decisions, and demand cycle. Past performance . backtest only . not a guarantee.