Metal stocks halt recent rally on profit booking
Sail (down 0.16%), Tata Steel (down 0.31%), Hindalco Industries (down 1.47%), Jindal Steel & Power (down 1.92%), Sterlite Industries (India) (down 2.23%), National Aluminium Company (down 1.54%), Sesa Goa (down 1.38%) and JSW Steel (down 1.04%), edged lower. Hindustan Zinc rose 1.24%.
The BSE Metal index was down 1.09% at 11,118.98. It underperformed the Sensex, which was down 0.65% at 19,328.08.
The BSE Metal index outperformed the market over the past one month till 20 December 2012, surging 15.63% compared with the Sensex's 6.14% rise. The index had also outperformed the market in past one quarter, jumping 9.55% as against Sensex's 6.02% gain.
The BSE Metal index had gained 8.81% in five trading sessions to 11,241.04 on 20 December 2012 from a recent low of 10,331.25 on 13 December 2012 after data on Friday, 14 December 2012, showed that a preliminary version of HSBC's China manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index hit a 14-month high in December 2012.
The HSBC flash purchasing managers' index for December rose to 50.9, a 14-month high and the fifth straight monthly gain. A figure above 50 indicates that growth is accelerating, while one below 50 shows slowing growth. China is the world's largest consumer of copper and aluminum.
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