Citibank upgrade lifts metal stocks; Nalco and SAIL shares gain

Shares of metal firms rallied on Monday after Citibank upgraded its rating for the sector from ‘underweight’ to ‘neutral’.

The brokerage believes the economic reopening in China will potentially led to a pricing as well as demand recovery for the metals sector.

The BSE Metal Index rallied 1.5 per cent, outperforming the benchmark Sensex which rose 1.41 per cent. State-owned Nalco and SAIL gained 2.5 per cent and 2.2 per cent, respectively.

Private sector players JSW Steel and Tata Steel rose 1.9 per cent and 1.6 per cent, respectively. Citibank expects a cyclical upswing for metals consumption from the second half of 2023.