Hindustan Copper shares surge 20%, metal index gains for 3rd day: What's behind the rally?

Metal stocks jump

• Nifty Metal index jumped over 3 percent, hitting a record high of 12,498.60
• Hindustan Copper surged 20 percent, up 314 percent in nine months
• Gold and silver futures hit all-time highs, boosting overall metal sentiment

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Metal stocks extended their sharp surge for the third consecutive session on January 29, pushing the Nifty Metal index up more than 3 percent.

Hindustan Copper shares were the top gainers on the index, jumping 20 percent to hit the upper circuit at an all-time high of Rs 760.05 apiece on Thursday. The stock has now rallied a whopping 314 percent in just nine months from its 52-week low of Rs 183.82 apiece, which it had hit in April this year.

The Nifty Metal index rose to a record high of 12,498.60. This comes despite an overall bearish sentiment in markets, with benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty in the red.

Why are Hindustan Copper shares rallying?

Hindustan Copper shares have seen a sharp surge in recent days, rallying more than 42 percent in just three sessions so far after the company announced on January 24 that it has emerged as the preferred bidder for Baghwari-Khirkhori Copper and associated mineral block in Madhya Pradesh.

The company had participated in the state government’s e-auction for the grant of mining lease and composite license for the said block. “Since, HCL had submitted the highest final price offer, it has been declared as the Preferred Bidder for this auction,” it said.

The sharp surge in the shares of the Vedanta Group-company also comes amid the rally in copper prices, after the red metal gained 60 percent in 2025.

Copper’s long-term fundamentals remain strong, and Indian investors increasingly seek global commodity exposure to help diversify their portfolios and use as hedges against inflation, said Ross Maxwell, Global Strategy Operations Lead, VT Markets.

Why are metal stocks rising?

Notably, gold and silver prices also jumped today, boosting the overall sentiment for metals. Gold futures with February expiry on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) jumped 9 percent to hit an all-time high of Rs 1,80,779 per 10 grams. The contracts with April and June expiries also surged around 9 percent each to fresh lifetime highs.

Silver futures with March expiry meanwhile gained around 6 percent to hit a fresh all-time high of Rs 4,07,456 per kilogram. The contracts with May and July expiries also jumped around 6 percent each to their respective lifetime highs.

Meanwhile, the US Federal Reserve decided to leave rates unchanged on Wednesday, as widely expected. However, investors are actively looking forward to some boost for manufacturing in the upcoming Budget, which will likely in turn may push the metal stocks further up.

Growth in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) accelerated for the second straight month to a 26-month high of 7.8 percent on-year in December, compared with an upwardly revised 7.2 percent in November, driven by robust consumer demand, data released yesterday showed.

On a sectoral basis, mining and electricity were drivers of higher IIP growth in December, while manufacturing growth moderated a little.

Other metal stocks:

National Aluminium Company (NALCO) gained around 6 percent, while Tata Steel, Vedanta and NMDC shares gained more than 4 percent each, as seen at 3.15 pm.

Jindal Steel shares gained nearly 4 percent, while Hindalco Industries shares rose around 3 percent. JSW Steel shares jumped around 2 percent, while Steel Authority of India (SAIL), Hindustan Zinc and Adani Enterprises shares were up over 1 percent each.

Jindal Stainless shares were trading in the green with marginal gains. Bucking the trend, APL Apollo Tubes and Welspun Corp shares fell up to 1 percent.

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