Metal Index becomes showstopper in today’s rally, rises nearly 3 per cent

The metal index turned out to be a showstopper in today’s rally on the exchanges. The index outperforming both benchmark indices ahead of monthly production data rose around 3 per cent.

The metal company stocks were in the fast lane amid higher base metal prices. Nifty Metal was trading at 3,972.40 up by 117.10 points or 3.04% intraday. Nifty Metal has surged to an intraday high of 3,984.65 contributing most to the Sensex and Nifty’s rally.

On the index, MOIL was the top gainer soaring by nearly 13 per cent, followed by APL Apollo and NMDC each jumped over 5 per cent. JSW Steel and Tata Steel, who falls under Nifty 50, surged over 4.5 per cent each.

Furthermore, on the index, Jindal Steel jumped by over 4 per cent, while SAIL strengthened by over 3 per cent. Coal India traded over 2.5 per cent and Ratnamani gained by 1 per cent each.

Midhani, Hindalco, Welspun Corp traded flat. Whereas, Hind Copper and Hind Zinc were the only underperformers on the Index.

Shanghai base metals were broadly higher on the global front. However, the case with the counterparts on the London Metal Exchange which traded mostly lower.

Gains in base metal prices were capped amid fear of the third wave of Covid-19 hitting economies.

Moreover, the week-long stranded Ever Given vessel which was pulled free from Suez Canal on Monday after blocking traffic for six days, also played a role in market sentiments.

At the Shanghai front, overnight, Copper closed higher by 0.02 per cent, lead surged 1.82 per cent, tin inched higher 0.21 per cent and zinc gained 0.62 per cent, while aluminium dipped 0.14 per cent and nickel tumbled 0.1 per cent.

Overnight, at the LME, Nickel slipped 1.18 per cent, zinc plunged 0.09 per cent, aluminium shed 1.07% and copper dived 0.93%, while lead zoomed 0.77 per cent and tin gained 0.1 per cent.