Over 1.4 crore ONGC shares changed hands on the NSE within an hour of market opening.Shares of the state-run oil exploration company - Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) rose as much as 4.51 per cent to hit fresh 52-week high of Rs 134.30 on the BSE following surge in crude oil prices in the international market.

Brent crude oil price in international market was hovering around its important psychological level of $75.

Brent crude futures rose as much as 0.94 per cent to hit an intraday high of $74.62 per barrel.

On the Multi Commodity Exchange, crude oil futures for delivery in October advanced 0.4 per cent to Rs 5,231 per barrel.Oil prices rose on Tuesday as analysts pointed to signs of US supply tightness, ending days of losses as global markets remain haunted by the potential impact on China's economy of a crisis at heavily indebted property group China Evergrande.

The contract for West Texas Intermediate (WTI), which expires later on Tuesday, was up 69 cents or 1% at $70.98 after dropping 2.3% in the previous session.Meanwhile, ONGC was the top gainer in the Nifty 50 basket of shares in an otherwise weak market.

With today's gain ONGC achieved market capitalisation of Rs 1.66 lakh crore, data on the BSE showed.

ONGC shares were witnessing higher than usual trading volumes as 15.29 lakh shares changed hands on the BSE compared with an average of 14.27 lakh shares traded daily in the past two weeks.On the National Stock Exchange, over 1.4 crore ONGC shares changed hands within an hour of market opening.ONGC has so far this year advanced 44 per cent massively outperforming the Nifty 50 index which has gained 25 per cent.As of 10:06 am, ONGC shares traded 2.92 per cent higher at Rs 132.25, outperforming the Sensex which was trading on a flat note.