BENGALURU: Indian shares slipped on Wednesday, dragged by metal stocks as China's pledge to contain coal prices eased supply worries, while investors eyed corporate commentaries in the earnings season after Hindustan Unilever warned of margin impact.
The NSE Nifty 50 index fell 0.2% at 18,386, while the S&P BSE Sensex was flat at 61,698.40 by 0520 GMT.
The Nifty metals index was the top loser among indexes, falling nearly 2%.
China's state planner said on Tuesday it was studying ways of intervening in high coal prices and would take all necessary measures to bring them back to a reasonable range, dragging industrial metal prices.
"There will regulatory interventions across geographies as metal prices directly impact raw material costs for companies that are into manufacturing," Equitymaster analyst Vijay L Bhambwani said.
"We will see profit-taking with the fall in prices. But, the rally in metal companies is not over as money is coming into the markets."
Shares of mining companies are directly correlated to the metal prices. Base and industrial metal prices have rallied in the past few days on concerns over mine supply disruptions due to higher energy costs.
India's aluminium producers are drawing expensive power from the national grid, adding to pressure on utilities with low coal stocks as state-run Coal India curbs supplies, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, analysts said investors were awaiting corporate views during September-quarter earnings as higher commodity costs and raw material expenses are expected to hurt margins for companies even as they post profit increases.
Consumer giant Hindustan Unilever dropped 0.8% after it warned that margins could remain under pressure in the near term due to elevated commodity prices.
Cement maker ACC Ltd rose 4.3% after reporting strong results, while agriculture input maker Rallis India dropped 5.4% on posting big drop in profit.
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