Vedanta shares rise on strong production figures in Q3 2015

Shares of mining major Vedanta zoomed over 11 per cent after it reported strong zinc, silver and aluminium production in the September quarter. The company also reported lower production costs in zinc and aluminium.

The company's alumina output increased at its Lanjigarh plant, up 20 per cent year-on-year. Aluminium metal production increased 5 per cent in total, helped by the Jharsuguda-II plant. The cost of producing the metal was $1,599 and $1,674 per tonne at Jharsuguda-I and Korba–I respectively; this is lower than the $1,740 and $2,089 per tonne respectively for the same period in 2015. Costs were lower mainly on account of depreciation of the Indian rupee, lower alumina and other costs.

Vedanta reported rise in production in other business verticals as well, except that in copper.

The stock has been under pressure since last month after Standard and Poor's downgraded the credit rating for its London-based parent Vedanta Resources PLC to 'BB-'. The rating agency’s cautious view was possibly from the company’s high debt (Rs 77,700 crore on a consolidated basis as of March 2015), falling cash flows due to softness in commodity prices, and uncertainty over the proposed merger of its Indian arms – Vedanta and Cairn India.