Vedanta hits 5-month high; rallies 16% in four days on heavy volumes

Shares of Vedanta rallied 7 per cent to hit a five-month high of Rs 324.65 on the BSE in Friday’s intra-day trade on the back of heavy volumes. In the past four days, the stock has rallied 16 per cent. It was quoting at its highest level since June 3, 2022.

At 10:31 am; Vedanta was trading 6.7 per cent higher at Rs 322.50 as compared to a 0.19 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex. The average trading volumes on the counter jumped 1.5 times today. A combined 27.3 million shares had changed hands on the NSE and BSE.

For the July-September quarter (Q2FY23), the metals and mining major reported a 60.8 per cent year-on-year (YoY) decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,808 crore on the back of higher expenses.

Vedanta’s revenue during the quarter under review increased 20.6 per cent YoY to Rs 36,237 crore from Rs 30,048 crore reported a year ago. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) decreased by 24 per cent YoY to Rs 8,038 crore on account of input commodity inflation and lower output commodity prices; partially offset by improved operational performance, hedging gains and foreign exchange gains.

While the company continues to focus on the debt and cost management, the challenging macro environment globally is likely to weigh on any improvement in LME prices, Motilal Oswal Financial Services said.

The slowdown in China does not bode well for commodities, while fears of recession in Europe only compound the problem. A possible ban on Russian aluminum/copper/nickel trading on LME can however spur the metal prices and reverse the current downtrend, the brokerage said in a result update.