Stock market bounces back; banks, metals shine
Sensex was up 599.34 points, or 0.83 per cent at 73,088.33, while the Nifty was up 151.20 points or 0.69 per cent at 22,147.
The bulls refused to let go of red hot metal stocks in a flat market on Wednesday as speculative buying continued in all such shares on hopes of a further jump in stock prices.
The BSE Metals Index jumped 2 percent to 11,371 points, its highest level since December 2014 as investors poured fresh funds into stocks such as Vedanta and Hindustan Zinc that are owned by billionaire Anil Agarwal.
Underlying metal prices have been in an uptrend over the past six months on expectations that the United States will spend more funds to upgrade its creaking infrastructure after President-elect Donald Trump assumes charge.
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Stock prices of steel companies have also surged on media reports that China, the world's largest producer of the alloy, will shut down some steel plants in a bid to cut down on overcapacity.
Such has been the aggressive demand for metal companies that the BSE's metal index has surged more than 10 percent so far in January. It was up for the 3rd session in a row on heavy volumes today.
All 10 constituents of the BSE Metals Index, stocks such as SAIL, Tata Steel, NMDC and JSW Steel, gained between 0.3-3.6 percent in trade today.
These stocks are up 17-22 percent in January as there is no let up in buyers' enthusiasm to purchase these beaten down companies. The 10 companies making up the index have surged between 1-253 percent in the past one year.
Here are some prices for the day:
Vedanta surged 3.4 per cent to 244.45 rupees. Tata Steel jumped 2.9% to 467.35 rupees. Hindustan Zinc gained 2.9% to 292.60 rupees. JSW Steel added 2.2% to 191 rupees.
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