Metal index surges nearly 5% in two days

Sesa Sterlite, Hindalco, Tata Steel, SAIL and JSW Steel are up 1-4% on the BSE.

Metal shares continue at their upward march with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) metal index has rallied nearly 5% in past two trading sessions after China’s economy grew at its fastest pace this year for the quarter ended September. China is the world's largest consumer of copper and aluminium.

Sesa Sterlite, Hindalco Industries, Tata Steel, Steel Authority of India and JSW Steel are up 1-4% on the BSE.

The BSE metal index was up 1.4% compared to 0.16% rise in benchmark S&P BSE Sensex at 1200 hours. The index has rallied 4.8% in past two trading sessions against 2% in benchmark index.

Meanwhile, Pranav Mer metal analyst at PM Invest-tech says data showing China's economy grew as expected in the third quarter, although concerns that its upward momentum may be short-lived limited major price gains.

However, he expects that the Federal Reserve would extend its stimulus efforts, began to offset worries about the economic impact of a 16-day government shutdown.

Among the individual stocks, Sesa Sterlite was up 3.5% at Rs 202 on BSE. According to newspaper reports, Sesa Goa, a division of Sesa Sterlite, which had stopped mining following a Supreme Court ban  in the state two years ago (later lifted), recently secured a working permit for one year from the union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) for its mines in Chitradurga district.

Hindalco Industries has gained 3% at Rs 118, extending its previous day’s 4% rally, after the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh admits he cleared coal block allocation to the company.