Nifty Metal under pressure despite upbeat markets; Vedanta sheds over 5% post business updates

4 Jan 2022 , 11:50 AM

Nifty Metal was under pressure on Tuesday, dragging the most amid bullish overall market performance. The Index shed 0.6%, unlike Monday when it was bullish amidst monthly sales and production details from top companies like Coal India.

Vedanta dragged the most while Coal India, National Aluminium and Hindalco were also among the top losers. Hindustan Copper, Hindustan Zinc and APL Apollo Tubes gave support to the sector with significant gains.

Prices of copper fell on Tuesday pressured by a stronger dollar, while uncertainty over the impact of the rapid spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant also weighed on sentiment.

Indian equity indices extended gains on Tuesday amid positive global cues. Globally, equities were stronger following a series of all-time highs in December as markets continue to bet that the latest surge in Covid-19 cases won’t derail economic growth.

At around 12.50 pm, BSE Sensex was trading at 59,499.20 up 315.98 points or 0.53% and Nifty50 at 17,703.20 up 77.50 points or 0.44%. Nifty Metal was trading at 5,593.05 down 35.05 points or 0.62%, touching a high of 5,670.90 and low of 5,585.35 during intraday trade on Tuesday.

Vedanta shed 5.5% at Rs334.45 per piece. The company announced that the cast metal aluminium production at its smelters stood at 5,79,000 tonnes in the third quarter of the current financial, registering an increase of 16%.

Coal India Limited was 1.3% on the downside at Rs153.30 per piece. The company on January 1 reported a 3.3% rise in output to 60.2 million tonnes (MT) in December. NALCO also was 1.11% lower while Hindalco declined 0.74%. 

Hindustan Copper rose nearly 4% at Rs132.70 per piece to emerge the biggest gainer in the secttor. 

Hindustan Zinc belonging to Vedanta group firm was also bullish at Rs328.10 per piece, up 2.66% after annoucing business updates. The company reported an 11% rise in integrated metal production at 2,61,000 tonnes in the third quarter of this fiscal, supported by better plant and mined metal availability and improved operating parameters. The company’s integrated metal production stood at 2,35,000 tonnes in the year-ago period.

APL Apollo Tubes strecthed the winning streak on positive business updates by suring 1.6%. Welspun Corp was also nearly 1% higher.