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In the last week of 2023, Indian bell weather indices Sensex and Nifty gained around 1.6 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively as positive momentum on expectations of rate cuts by the US Fed and buoyant Indian economy continued to propel markets.. Except BSE IT (-1 per cent), all sectoral indices ended green during the last week with the best performers being BSE Auto (4 per cent), BSE Metals (4 per cent) and BSE FMCG (3 per cent).
As sentiment was positive there were many stocks that moved up significantly and quite a few without any relevant news or fundamentals to back it. Amongst those that outperformed based on fundamental news flows, Hindustan Copper, NLC and HUDCO were the top three gainers within the BSE 500 index last week.
Hindustan Copper
The stock of Hindustan Copper surged by nearly 21 per cent driven by positive sentiment from price rise of copper futures.
The company is involved in the business of mining of copper ore and owns all the operating mining lease of copper ore and is also an integrated producer of refined copper.
As per a Bloomberg report, copper future prices rose to their highest level since August, as traders have been hoping for rate cuts from the Fed in 2024. Further, the gains were also supported by the removal of F&O ban on the stock.
The stock is trading at a trailing P/E of 89 times.
HUDCO
The stock of HUDCO surged by around 19 per cent during the last week led by signing MoU with the Gujarat government.
The company is engaged in the business of providing financial assistance for housing and urban infrastructure development projects such as rural housing, community toilets, water supply, roads and transports, and power projects.
The company has signed an MoU with the Gujarat government to invest up to ₹14,500 crores for financing housing and urban infra projects in the state.
The stock is trailing at the trailing P/B of around 1.63 times.
NLC
The stock of NLC gained around 13 per cent during the last week on account of allotment of coal block and plans of investments in power generation capacity.
The company is engaged in the business of mining of lignite and generating power from thermal and renewable energy sources.
Last week, NLC India received the formal ‘allotment order’ for the North Dhadu coal block in Jharkhand, which it won in the coal block auctions of August this year. It was initially expected that NLC would produce 3 mtpa of coal from the block, but this week, the company’s Chairman and MD M Prasanna Kumar, told businessline that the production would be raised to 4-5 mtpa. Further, the company plans to invest ₹82,000 crore to increase its installed capacity from 6 GW to 17 GW.
The stock is trading at a trailing P/E of 25.18 times.
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