Five metal stocks to keep an eye on today!

Globally, steelmakers are worried as the 'city of steel' - Mariupol, a city in Ukraine is currently under attack. Mariupol has large iron- and steelworks.

On Friday morning, the headline indices Nifty 50 and Sensex opened higher and were up by 2%, after the huge sell-off that happened due to the Russia -Ukraine crisis on Thursday. The Sensex was at 55,681.43 up by 1151.52 points or 2.11% and the Nifty was at 16,850.78 up by 401 points or 2.44%.

BSE Metal index is trading in the green territory, up by 4%. Top gainers of the index include Jindal Steel & Power, SAIL, Tata Steel, APL Apollo and Hindustan Zinc. Coal India, NMDC and Hindalco are up by more than 3.50 per cent each.

Globally, steelmakers are worried as the 'city of steel' - Mariupol, a city in Ukraine is currently under attack. Mariupol has large iron- and steelworks. Major steel companies are based in the city and due to the aggravating current geo-political environment; several countries might experience a shortage supply of steel. This comes as an opportunity for Indian steel makers, which can increase capacities and supply to MENA (Middle East and North Africa) countries if the need arises. 

Stocks to watch out are  Tata Steel, Jindal Steel & Power and JSW Steel.

As the crisis in Ukraine escalates, India's leading metal makers have not yet witnessed any impact on their day-to-day business. However, any possible supply chain disruptions are being closely monitored.

Aluminium recently hit a record-high price after Russia, (which happens to be a key producer of aluminium) launched a military attack on Ukraine. Aluminium soared to touch a high of USD 3,382.50 per ton, eclipsing the previous high of USD 3,380.15 which was recorded during the global financial crisis in July 2008. The key beneficiaries of this rally in aluminium would be Hindalco and National Aluminium Company (NALCO).

Also, Novelis Inc. which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hindalco has recently announced an investment of USD 50 million to build a recycling centre at its Ulsan Aluminum joint venture in South Korea. Fully funded by Novelis, the recycling centre will have an annual casting capacity of 100 kilotons of low-carbon sheet ingot. Once online, the company expects the recycling centre to reduce the company’s carbon emissions by more than 420,000 tons each year.