Nifty Metal nosedives near 3% on broad-based selloff; APL Apollo, Hindustan Copper, NALCO, JSPL, SAIL top bears

24 Jan 2022 , 10:40 AM

Metal company stocks were under selling pressure on Monday’s bearish bandwagon of markets as investors bet cautiously ahead of US Federal Reserve possible price hike in interest rates, Union Budget 2022 and slowdown in domestic rural economy.

The index is dragged by heavyweights APL Apollo, Hindustan Copper as all the stocks were in the deep red territory to emerge as among the top laggards of the day. However, the December 2021 (Q3FY22) quarterly results and F&O expiry will influence the markets outlook possibly.

BSE Sensex was trading at 58,361.66 down 675.52 points or 1.14% and Nifty50 at 17,416.75 up 200.40 points or 1.14%

At around 10:40 AM, Nifty Metal was trading at 5,557.55 down 162 points or 2.83%. The  index has touched an intraday high and low of 5,669.60 and 5,547.25. The index has dropped nearly 3% so far today as heavyweight stocks take a toll.

APL Apollo Tubes was the top bear plunging over 6% followed by Hindustan Copper tumbling nearly 6%. NALCO and Welspun Corp dipped around 5% each. Hindalco slipped 3.7% while JSW Steel shed 3.5%. PSU metal stock National Aluminium Company (Nalco) is in focus as it been added to the list of stocks under F&O ban by the stock exchange for Monday.

Stocks like Jindal Steel, Adani Enterprises, SAIL, Tata Steel and NMDC stocks traded lower between 2%-3.5%. Further, Hindustan Zinc dipped 1.5%, Vedanta shed a little over 1% while Ratnamani Metals and Coal India traded marginally down.

Analysts optimism in Indian metals dimmed as weak macro and demand fears in China weigh on metal prices. According to the CLSA, steel prices to correct but remain above previous averages. They believe base metals are better placed than ferrous metals.