Hindustan Copper, Hindustan Zinc shares: Metal stocks fall for a third straight session

Shares of metal companies resumed their downward journey on Monday, February 2, as rout in commodities like gold, silver, aluminium and copper continued. The measure of metal stocks on the National Stock Exchange, NIFTY Metal index, fell for a third straight session and in the last three trading sessions the index has plunged as much as 10% or 1,250 points. In intraday deals on Monday, the index dropped 1.06% dragged down by losses in SAIL's nearly 5% fall.

Vedanta, Jindal Steel, Hindustan Copper, NMDC, Hindalco, Lloyds Metals And Energy and Welspun Corp also fell between 0.62%-2%.

Gold futures for April delivery declined as much as 5.99% to an intraday low of ₹,133,687 per 10 grams, for the third consecutive day, on the Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX) on Monday, February 2.

Silver contracts for the March expiry plunged as much as 15% to the session’s low of ₹2,25,805 per kilogram on the MCX.

The white metal plunged 9% on Sunday, February 1. On Friday, it had slumped ₹1,07,968, or 27%, to close at ₹2,91,925 per kilogram, also touching its lower circuit level. The sharp sell-off followed Thursday's record peak of ₹4,20,048 per kilogram.

Copper futures for delivery on February 27 dropped 4% and aluminium futures also declined 2.14%.

Precious metals prices witnessed a sharp neck-breaking rally before crashing on Friday. The rally, driven by geopolitical uncertainties, came crashing amid profit booking, mainly following the nomination of Kevin Warsh as the next US Federal Reserve chief.

This nomination dampened investor sentiment as traders view him as a hawkish policymaker who is more likely to prioritise inflation control and maintain tighter monetary conditions. The current US Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s term will expire in May 2026.

Furthermore, as per news reports, the CME has announced a second margin hike in three days for all precious metals, with maintenance margins set to rise by 33% for gold futures, 36% for silver futures, 25% for platinum futures, and 14% for palladium futures, effective Monday, February 2, 2026.