Metal Stocks Plunge: Vedanta, Hindustan Zinc Lead Losses

On Friday's trading session, the Nifty Metal index witnessed a substantial downturn, with a mere two out of fifteen constituent stocks managing to close in positive territory. Vedanta Ltd. and its subsidiary Hindustan Zinc Ltd. were at the forefront of this decline, collectively responsible for over 56% of the ₹1.25 lakh crore market capitalization that was wiped out from the index. Vedanta's shares plummeted by 11.2%, its most significant single-day drop since June 2022, resulting in a loss of over ₹33,000 crore in market cap. Hindustan Zinc also experienced a steep 12.5% fall, the largest since January 2008, erasing ₹36,000 crore from its valuation. Despite this, Hindustan Zinc had recently become India's most valued metal stock, surpassing ₹3 lakh crore in market capitalization.

Other prominent metal stocks also suffered considerable losses. Hindalco and Tata Steel saw their market capitalizations erode by ₹13,644 crore and ₹11,472 crore, respectively. NALCO's market cap dropped by nearly ₹8,000 crore following a 10% share price decrease after its earnings announcement. The volatile trading environment extended to commodity prices, with gold and silver prices experiencing wild swings. Copper prices also fell from their record highs after delays in London Metal Exchange trading due to technical issues, with futures declining over 4%. The CME had earlier increased its margins for copper trading by 20%, contributing to the sell-off. Excluding Jindal Stainless and Adani Enterprises, all other Nifty Metal index constituents ended the day with losses.