Metal shares extend fall; Nifty Metal index down 4% in two days

In 2017, metal index rallied 20% against 9.5% rise in Nifty 50 index till Monday.

Shares of metal companies were under pressure and quoting lower for second straight trading sessions on the bourses on profit booking.

NMDC, Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL), Vedanta, National Aluminium Company, Hindalco Industries and Tata Steel were down in the range of 2% to 4% on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

At 12:15 pm; Nifty Metal index, the largest loser among sectoral indices, was down 2.1% at 3,068 as compared to 0.51% decline in Nifty 50 index. In past two trading sessions, the metal index slipped 4% against 0.69% fall in the benchmark index.

Thus far in calendar year 2017, metal index had outperformed the market by surging 20% against 9.5% rise in Nifty 50 index till Monday.

Hindalco Industries was down 2.5% at Rs 188, extending its Tuesday’s 3.5% decline. The capital raising committee of the company at its meeting held today, i.e. 8th March, 2017 has approved the closure of the qualified institutional placement (QIP) issue.  The board approved the issue price of Rs 189.45 per share for the proposed placement of 176.83 million shares.

China last week set its GDP growth target at around 6.5% for 2017, compared with a target range of 6.5 to 7% last year as the world's second largest economy braced for further slowdown of its growth, the PTI reports suggests. CLICK HERE TO READ FULL REPORT

Analysts at JP Morgan remain overweight on Hindalco and Vedanta even though the stocks have materially outperformed the broader indexes over the last 12 months as the underlying commodity environment remains supportive and should allow balance sheets to de-lever.

“However, in the near term, we would not be surprised to see volatility increase and stocks pull back on LME volatility but would use weakness to add to positions,” JP Morgan said in recent report on India Metals.

Company	30/12/2016	06/03/2017	% chg	LTP	% chg
Jindal Steel	69.10	126.00	82.34	120.40	-4.44
Bhushan Steel	40.50	57.45	41.85	54.15	-5.74
Hindalco Inds.	155.05	199.40	28.60	187.90	-5.77
SAIL	49.20	62.20	26.42	59.35	-4.58
Tata Steel	391.10	492.95	26.04	471.90	-4.27
Vedanta	216.30	266.45	23.19	252.50	-5.24
Natl. Aluminium	64.95	79.20	21.94	75.85	-4.23
Hindustan Zinc	255.45	309.30	21.08	296.50	-4.14
NMDC	123.45	146.45	18.63	141.00	-3.72
APL Apollo	913.55	1072.20	17.37	1087.85	1.46
JSW Steel	162.46	184.80	13.75	177.60	-3.90
Nifty Metal	2652.50	3189.40	20.24	3067.80	-3.81
Nifty 50	8185.80	8963.45	9.50	8901.85	-0.69
LTP : Last traded price in Rs at 12:15 pm