Stocks in Focus: Hindustan Zinc, Vedanta, ONGC Among Top Gainers on Tuesday

Mumbai, May 12: While nerves remained on edge over threats to shipping activity in the Strait of Hormuz following US-Iran military tensions overnight, two sectoral indices on the NSE managed to buck the bearish trend at Tuesday’s session open — Nifty Metal and Nifty Oil & Gas, finding strength from the geopolitical risk driving crude prices higher.

With Strait of Hormuz remaining closed to shipping activity and US President Donald Trump saying the ceasefire with Iran is “on life support,” commodity prices remained elevated helping upstream firms and metals companies that thrive on higher realisation prices and rupee depreciation. The Nifty Metal index climbed 0.79% to 13,028.30 against its previous close of 12,926.40, while Nifty Oil & Gas index climbed 0.91% to 11,442.65 from its previous close of 11,339.00.

Metal Stocks

Amongst metals stocks, Hindustan Zinc jumped 3.75% to ₹652.70 from its previous close of ₹629.10, tracking the broader metals rally on supply uncertainty even as a weaker rupee translated to costlier imports and higher competitiveness for domestic producers. Vedanta rose 2.82% to ₹306.80 from ₹298.40 on its exposure across zinc, aluminium and oil while Hindalco Industries climbed 2.61% to ₹1,050.20 from ₹1,023.50 as global aluminium prices traded firm.

Tata Steel climbed 1.50% to ₹215.26 from its previous close of ₹212.08 as outlook for steel demand supported by capex push on infrastructure even as broader trade uncertainties continued to weigh. Metals producers tend to do well during times of global commodity upcycle, and the geopolitical tensions around West Asia are no different since disruptions in shipping lanes would lead to higher landed price of imported metal and favour domestic producers on pricing front.

Oil & Gas Stocks

Oil India Ltd was the biggest winner in the Oil & Gas pack for the session, surging 9.13% to ₹497.65 from its previous close of ₹456.00 while Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) climbed 6.62% to ₹299.60 from ₹281.00 with upstream producers cheering not just elevated crude prices but also a major policy announcement by Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri late on Monday. Shares of Reliance Industries that has operations across the upstream and downstream space of oil marketing moved up 0.22% to ₹1,391.30 from its previous close of ₹1,388.20 as downstream operations will see some margin pressure on feedstock costs while upstream will gain.

Oil & Gas stocks got a boost from an important policy announcement on Monday evening by Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, who announced that government has decided to rationalise royalty rates applicable to domestic upstream oil and gas industry. The announcement, effectively amends the rules governing royalty payments that oil companies have to make to the government for producing crude oil, natural gas and casinghead condensate. Based on the schedule notified under the Oil and Petroleum Act, 1984 (ORD Act) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Rules, 1959 (PNG Rules) as amended in 2025, several longstanding inconsistencies across regimes are eliminated.

The change in royalty structure can be seen as an effort to push oil production within the country and curb India’s import dependence at a time when crude oil prices have crossed $100 per barrel, weighing heavily on India’s foreign exchange reserves. That worry seemed to have prompted Prime Minister Modi’s comments on Sunday evening, urging Indians to cut down on fuel consumption, gold purchases and overseas travel till further notice.

Movement of 7 Stocks on Tuesday

Sources:

• https://www.nseindia.com/market-data/live-equity-market?symbol=NIFTY%20METAL
• https://www.nseindia.com/market-data/live-equity-market?symbol=NIFTY%20OIL%20%26%20GAS