Metal shares shine on demand revival hopes; Hindalco, Vedanta soar 7%

Shares of metal companies were in focus as Nifty Metal index gained 4 per cent at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday, amid hopes of China demand revival and value buying.

Among individual stocks, Vedanta and Hindalco Industries rallied 7 per cent at Rs 307.70 and Rs 419.70, respectively. Besides that, Hindustan Copper, National Aluminium Company, JSW Steel and Tata Steel were up in the range of 4 per cent to 6 per cent.

At 10:36 am; Nifty Metal index was the top gainer among sectoral indices, up 4.4 per cent, as compared to 1.3 per cent rise in the Nifty50 index.

Despite today’s run-up, most of the metal stocks have corrected by up to 30 per cent in the past one month. That apart, Vedanta, Steel Authority of India (SAIL), Hindalco, JSW Steel, Hindustan Zinc, NMDC, Tata Steel and Jindal Steel were down between 13 per cent and 30 per cent. Meanwhile, in the past one month, Nifty Metal index slipped 15 per cent, as compared to 8 per cent decline in the Nifty50 index.

According to a Reuters report, Shanghai had set out plans on Monday for resumption of normal life from June 1 and called an end of COVID lockdown that lasted over six weeks. China's economic activity cooled sharply in April as lockdowns took a heavy toll on industrial production and employment, adding to fears that the economy could shrink in the second quarter.

Following China's announcement on easement of COVID curbs, prices of industrial metals rose on Monday on hopes of demand revival. CLICK HERE FOR FULL REPORT

However, according to a report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) of China , China’s property sales for April’22 declined 46.6 per cent YoY to USD123b – marking the steepest drop since 2010.

Against this backdrop, the NBS stated that it expects the Chinese economy to improve in May’22 driven by recovery in consumption. Moreover, China’s PBOC, too, cut interest rates on home loans for first time home buyers to support housing market and economic demand.