Metal Stocks to Watch October 16 2026: Steel Up, Non-Ferrous Lags After Largecap Rally

The metal stocks to watch October 16 list opens with an awkward fact for the sector. On a day the Nifty 50 jumped 1.66%, the Nifty Metal index barely twitched. It closed Thursday, October 15, 2026, up just 0.10%, and that flat number hid a sharp split. Steelmakers such as JSW Steel, Tata Steel and Jindal Stainless rose with the broader market, while the non-ferrous and mining names, led by Hindustan Copper, Vedanta Aluminium Metal, Hindustan Zinc and Vedanta, closed lower. We wrote this before Friday’s open, using NSE’s October 15 closing data, the companies’ own exchange filings and the latest global metal cues to lay out what each group carries into the session. There are no Friday prices or results in here, because none existed yet.

Every closing price and percentage move below comes from the NSE capital-market bhavcopy for October 15, with each change measured against the previous day’s official close. Index levels are from NSE’s daily index close file, and the 15-stock line-up is from NSE’s published Nifty Metal constituent list. For how the wider market moved, see our Stock Market Today India hub.

Metal stocks to watch October 16: Nifty Metal sat out the largecap rally

The Nifty 50 closed at 22,997.35 on October 15, up 374.65 points or 1.66%. The Nifty Metal index closed at 12,018.50, up 11.75 points or 0.10%. Put plainly, metals managed less than a tenth of the benchmark’s percentage gain.

The intraday path looks a little kinder than the close. Nifty Metal opened at 11,948.05, below Wednesday’s close of 12,006.75, slid to a low of 11,852.25, then climbed to a high of 12,061.10 before settling at 12,018.50. So the index did claw back from an early dip, but it never really joined the broad move. Turnover in its constituents was ₹2,855.82 crore, a bit lower than ₹2,935.85 crore on October 14, which suggests the recovery happened without much fresh buying behind it.

Look at the other sector indices and the lag stands out even more. The same NSE file has Nifty IT up 1.82%, Nifty Financial Services up 1.67%, Nifty Auto up 1.67% and Nifty Bank up 0.89%. The broader Nifty Commodities index rose 0.65%. Metals finished behind all five.

The market’s attention was elsewhere anyway. CNBC-TV18’s stocks to watch list for October 16 is built around results and corporate news from Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Jio Financial Services, Angel One, Persistent Systems and Reliance Industries. Not one of its 12 picks is a metal company. That leaves steel and mining stocks trading mostly on sector cues on Friday, not on company results.

A split board: steel up, non-ferrous down

Of the 15 Nifty Metal constituents, six closed higher on October 15 and nine closed lower. The gainers were almost all steel and stainless steel producers. The decliners were mostly zinc, copper, aluminium and diversified mining names.

JSW Steel did best, rising 2.06% after trading between ₹1,168.90 and ₹1,209.20. Hindalco was the one non-ferrous name to go against the grain, closing 1.29% higher at ₹893.85 after a wide range of ₹857.15 to ₹897.85. At the bottom, Hindustan Copper fell 3.12% and Vedanta Aluminium Metal dropped 2.18%. By traded value, Hindalco (about ₹506 crore), Vedanta Aluminium Metal (about ₹379 crore), Tata Steel (about ₹314 crore) and Vedanta (about ₹282 crore) were the busiest of the group, going by the bhavcopy’s total traded value column.

Thursday’s flat Nifty Metal close was not a quiet day. It was steel buyers and non-ferrous sellers cancelling each other out, and that split is the main thing to watch on Friday.

A week on from the October 8 selloff

The sector is still patching up the damage from a heavy fall a week ago. NSE’s index file for October 8 shows Nifty Metal dropping 3.55% that day to 11,870.05. From that close to October 15, the index is up 1.25%, while the Nifty 50 has gained 3.44% over the same stretch (from 22,231.80 to 22,997.35). Both are our calculations from NSE’s closing levels.

Measured from the October 6 close of 12,599.75, before the selloff started, Nifty Metal is still 4.61% lower. The Nifty 50 is 0.97% above its October 6 close of 22,776.10. The benchmark has fully made up the ground. Metals haven’t.

At the stock level, the picture since October 8 repeats Thursday’s split. Comparing the October 15 close with the October 8 bhavcopy close (our calculation):

• Steel recovering: Jindal Stainless +2.70%, Tata Steel +2.58%, SAIL +2.43%, JSW Steel +2.14% and Jindal Steel +1.98%.
• Non-ferrous still sliding: Vedanta Aluminium Metal -3.98%, Hindustan Copper -3.09%, Vedanta -2.84% and Hindustan Zinc -0.14%.
• Roughly flat: Hindalco +0.42% and NMDC +0.18%.

Vedanta needs one adjustment. The stock went ex-dividend on October 14 for its ₹5 first interim dividend, per NSE’s corporate actions listing, so part of the drop since October 8 is just the dividend coming out of the price. Add the ₹5 back and Vedanta’s change since October 8 is about -0.87% by our calculation, a far smaller fall than the raw -2.84%.

Global cues: copper near a two-week low, aluminium near a nine-month low

The non-ferrous weakness matches what happened on the London Metal Exchange. Reuters reported (carried by Mining.com.au) that benchmark three-month copper fell 1.5% to $14,279.50 a tonne by 14:30 GMT on Thursday, after touching $14,256, its lowest since October 2. The report put the fall down to profit-taking as supply worries eased after BHP and the supervisors’ union at the Escondida mine in Chile struck a deal, plus a selloff in AI and chip stocks and hotter US inflation data that revived talk of a US rate hike.

Aluminium was steadier by then, up 0.1% at $2,990.50 a tonne, but only after touching $2,953.50, which Reuters called its lowest in more than nine months. Zinc fell 1.1% to $3,678.50 a tonne. Those three metals line up neatly with the Indian losers: Hindustan Copper (copper), Hindustan Zinc (zinc and silver) and Vedanta, Vedanta Aluminium Metal and Nalco (aluminium). The LME moves above are intraday Thursday figures from that report, not Friday prices.

Steel names: Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Jindal Steel, SAIL and Jindal Stainless

Steel has a domestic pricing story behind it. BusinessLine reported on October 14 that steel companies raised prices for a third straight month in October, by ₹2,000 to ₹2,700 a tonne, and that hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices had climbed to ₹64,700 a tonne from ₹62,000 in September, citing BigMint data. A Nomura note reported by Moneycontrol put HRC at ₹64,700 a tonne in the week ended October 9, up ₹700 week-on-week and near a four-year high, with imported coking coal down $3 to $271 a tonne. BusinessLine’s industry sources, though, blamed higher raw material costs, coking coal included, for the hikes. How much of the higher selling price actually reaches margins is the open question for September-quarter results.

Tata Steel (₹176.40, +1.09%): On the evening of October 15, Tata Steel told the exchanges it had received the certified copy of the NCLT Mumbai order sanctioning the amalgamation of Rujuvalika Investments, a wholly owned subsidiary, into the company. The tribunal pronounced the order on October 1, so this is paperwork, not a fresh approval. Operationally, the provisional Q2 FY27 update showed Tata Steel India crude steel production of 6.21 million tons, up 8% quarter-on-quarter and 10% year-on-year, and India deliveries of 5.97 million tons, up 15% quarter-on-quarter and 7% year-on-year.

JSW Steel (₹1,200.40, +2.06%): The company has confirmed in an exchange filing that its board meets on Friday, October 23, to consider Q2 FY27 results, with an analyst call at 5:30 pm IST that day. Its Q2 production release reported consolidated crude steel output of 7.27 million tonnes, up 10% quarter-on-quarter and 5% year-on-year, with Indian operations running at 88% capacity utilisation for the quarter and about 90% in September.

Jindal Steel (₹1,030.00, +0.08%): In a filing dated October 15, Jindal Steel said its subsidiary Jindal Paradip Port Limited started commercial operations of Phase I, with 12.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of capacity, at Paradip Port in Odisha with effect from October 15, 2026. The concession covers 25 MTPA in two phases, and the filing says Phase I got its completion certificate on October 12, ahead of the October 16 deadline in the concession agreement. The company put total project cost for both phases at ₹3,393 crore, of which Jindal Steel has put in ₹258.25 crore of equity, and gave dedicated long-term port access as the reason. This landed after Thursday’s close, so Friday is the first session where the market can react. NSE’s event calendar has Jindal Steel’s results board meeting on October 23.

SAIL (₹170.29, +0.17%): SAIL trailed JSW Steel, Tata Steel and Jindal Stainless on Thursday. Its recent filings are about the board, including two government nominee directors appointed with effect from October 12, not operations.

Jindal Stainless (₹724.65, +1.48%): The stainless steel maker put out a press release on October 15 about running 10 electric trucks on routes from its Jajpur plant, an ESG update rather than a financial one. Its Q2 results are due on October 22, according to NSE’s event calendar.

Non-ferrous and mining: Hindalco, Vedanta, Hindustan Zinc, Nalco, NMDC

Hindalco (₹893.85, +1.29%): Hindalco held its ground despite the weak aluminium tape. NSE’s event calendar has its board meeting for September-quarter results on November 6, which makes it one of the later reporters here.

Vedanta (₹245.90, -1.64%) and Vedanta Aluminium Metal (₹359.55, -2.18%): Vedanta’s board approved a first interim dividend of ₹5 per share for 2026-27 on October 8, about ₹1,955 crore in total, with a record date of October 14, per its exchange intimation. With the record date behind it, Thursday’s 1.64% fall had nothing to do with the dividend. Vedanta Aluminium Metal had the second-highest traded value among the 15 constituents on Thursday, after Hindalco.

Hindustan Zinc (₹531.00, -1.67%): Hindustan Zinc is the first Nifty Metal constituent with a results date on NSE’s event calendar. Its notice filed on October 13 says Q2 and half-year results come on Monday, October 19, with an earnings call at 16:00 IST the same day. With zinc down on the LME on Thursday, the stock walks into that event on the back foot.

Nalco (₹318.40, -1.47%): On October 13, Nalco filed its board’s comments on a fine of ₹14,13,340 each (including GST) levied by BSE and NSE for board-composition non-compliance under SEBI’s listing rules for the June quarter. The board said director appointments at the state-owned company are in the hands of the Government of India and asked for the fine to be waived.

NMDC (₹70.82, -0.37%): NMDC’s provisional September data showed iron ore production of 4.04 million tonnes against 3.75 million tonnes a year earlier, while sales fell to 3.51 million tonnes from 3.88 million tonnes. That’s roughly 8% more production but about 10% lower sales year-on-year, by our calculation. For April to September, production was 27.27 million tonnes against 22.20 million tonnes, while sales were flat at 22.23 million tonnes. The Nomura note cited by Moneycontrol put global iron ore (62% Fe, CFR China) at $87 a tonne, its lowest in calendar 2026, which makes further price gains harder.

Lloyds Metals and Energy (₹1,814.00, -1.62%): Its board on October 14 approved raising up to ₹3,000 crore through non-convertible debentures and up to $130 million through US dollar notes, with an option to upsize by $50 million, and cancelled a previously approved ₹600 crore NCD issue.

Outside the index: Welspun Corp and Jindal Saw

Two pipe makers outside Nifty Metal deserve a look too. Welspun Corp fell 5.58% to ₹2,486.90 on October 15, after trading as low as ₹2,450.20, and is down 6.20% from its October 8 close by our calculation. Its latest exchange filing, on October 13, was about the incorporation of a step-down subsidiary in Jordan for pipe and tubular products. NSE’s announcements page shows nothing from the company since, so there’s no company explanation for Thursday’s fall.

Jindal Saw rose 0.71% to ₹299.20 and has its results board meeting on October 16 itself, per NSE’s event calendar. The full results-day line-up is in our results day stocks October 16 preview.

Five things that could move metals on Friday

• Does the steel versus non-ferrous split hold? If steel keeps rising while copper, zinc and aluminium stocks lag, the index could stay flat even on a good market day, just as it did on Thursday.
• Copper and aluminium in Asian trade. Copper’s slide to a near two-week low was reported at 14:30 GMT (8:00 pm IST), well after Indian markets shut, so Friday is the first chance for non-ferrous stocks to price it in.
• Jindal Steel’s port update. The Paradip Port Phase I start was filed after Thursday’s close.
• The October 8 low. Nifty Metal’s Thursday low of 11,852.25 dipped just under the October 8 close of 11,870.05 before bouncing. Whether that zone holds is the near-term level traders will have their eye on.
• The results calendar. Per NSE’s event calendar: Jindal Saw on October 16, Hindustan Zinc on October 19, Jindal Stainless on October 22, JSW Steel and Jindal Steel on October 23, Adani Enterprises on October 28, GMDC on October 30 and Hindalco on November 6.

Steel prices are doing the heavy lifting for the steelmakers right now, while the non-ferrous names are taking their direction from London. Until the results arrive, those two forces are pulling the sector index in opposite directions.

For a closer look at how the sector traded through Wednesday and the October 8 selloff, see our earlier preview, metal stocks to watch October 15.

The short version

Nifty Metal closed October 15 up only 0.10% while the Nifty 50 gained 1.66%, and the flat close hid a clear divide. Six constituents rose, five of them steel or stainless steel makers, with JSW Steel’s 2.06% gain on top. Nine fell, led by Hindustan Copper’s 3.12% drop, as copper slid to a near two-week low and aluminium touched a nine-month low on the LME. A week after the October 8 selloff, steel stocks have won back around 2% to 3%, while the Vedanta group, Hindustan Copper and Hindustan Zinc have not. Friday opens after overnight LME weakness and Jindal Steel’s port update, and Hindustan Zinc’s results on October 19 are the next company-specific trigger for the group. Every figure here is from October 15 or earlier; Friday’s trading hadn’t started when we wrote this.

Disclaimer: This article is for information and education only and is not investment advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security. Prices, schedules and commodity moves can change quickly; check the latest NSE or BSE data and company filings, and consult a SEBI-registered investment adviser before making investment decisions.