Investors of Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) were handsomely rewarded on Tuesday as market participants rushed to the counter on hopes of special dividend payout. Shares of the state-owned refinery ended 3 per cent higher on the BSE, at Rs 469 per share, as its Board approved to offload the firm s holding in the Numaligarh Refinery unit for Rs 9,878 crore ($1.3 billion) as part of BPCL s privatization process. Earlier today, the share hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 482.4 apiece, up 6 per cent on the BSE in the intra-day trade. The country s second-biggest state refiner will sell its 61.65 per cent holding in Numaligarh Refinery to a consortium of Oil India Ltd. and Engineers India Ltd. and may also include the state government of Assam, according to an exchange filing.