Five metal stocks to keep an eye on today!

On Friday morning, the headline indices, i.e. Nifty 50 and Sensex opened in the red as the war between Russia and Ukraine completes one month and continues to affect the markets globally.

The Sensex was at 57,484.44, down by 111.24 points or 0.19% and the Nifty was at 17,191.50, down by 31.25 points or 0.18%.

On the BSE 1,840 shares have advanced, 1051 shares have declined and 135 shares are unchanged.

BSE Metal index is trading in the green territory at 22.983.17 up by 0.14%. Top gainers of the index include NMDC, Jindal Steel, SAIL, Hindalco Industries, and Tata Steel.

The Nifty Metal index was trading at 6,507.27 up by 0.14%. The top gainers were of the Nifty Metal pack are NMDC, Jindal Steel, MOIL, Welspun Corporation, and Ratnamani Metal.

Despite the volatility, shares of steel companies were in focus this week after reports emerged that India's top steelmakers have hiked prices of rebar and HRC (Hot Rolled Coil) by Rs 1,500-Rs 2,000 a ton due to inflated raw material cost. Steel players have taken price hikes due to rising raw material costs, especially coking coal, whose prices have climbed to USD 650-700/ton from USD 300/ton in a month. This is the fourth round of price increase seen in March.

Stocks to watch out for are – NMDC, SAIL, Coal India, Jindal Steel and Power, Vedanta.

Jindal Steel and Power Limited: Jindal Steel and Power Ltd have emerged as the highest bidder for developing the western dock of Paradip Port with a likely price of Rs 2,400 crore. The Naveen Jindal-owned company has quoted a price of Rs 54 per metric ton for a 25 million tons annual cargo handling capacity. The company has plans to expand the capacity of its Angul plant from 5.4 million tons (MT) at present to 25.2 MT in a phased manner over the next nine years. The plan to own a port is to ensure the plant does not face logistical issues in the future. The scrip of the company was up 1.48% at Rs 529.30 on the BSE.

NMDC and Coal India Limited: Khanij Bidesh India, (KABIL) a special purpose vehicle (SPV) of Hindustan Copper (HCL), Nalco and Mineral Exploration Corporation (MECL), have sought to rope in Coal India (CIL) and NMDC as partners for its overseas mineral exploration venture.

KABIL at present is looking for Lithium and Cobalt in Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina, and the process is in the stage of due diligence. KABIL, in which NALCO holds 40% and Hindustan Copper and MECL holds 30% each, has a total paid-up capital of Rs 2.5 Crore and an authorised share capital of Rs 100 crore. The two mining behemoths, CIL and NMDC, joining KABIL would bring in fresh capital, which could expedite the process of overseas mineral exploration and acquisition of assets. Coal India was up by 0.48% and NMDC was up by 1.85% on the BSE.