2021 has been a great year from global equity markets’ perspective with China and Hong Kong being an exception largely due to government’s regulatory crackdown specifically on large tech giants which has resulted in tightened legislations around issues like data security and anti-monopoly.
Metal sector has given stellar returns, thanks to the high inflation and supply chain disruptions around the world, which kept the commodity prices elevated. With the advent of 2022, supply chain issues are expected to ease out though metal prices are to remain well above historical averages largely on account of increased demand from fast growing electric vehicle market and strategic initiatives from governments towards to green energy and carbon neutrality.
China has turned more environment sensitive as it has announced in 2021 a decision to stop building new coal-fired power projects overseas. China aims to peak emissions before 2030 and go carbon-neutral by 2060 in accordance with the Paris climate accord.
“The metals sector is set to continue its rebound from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic through 2022. Pent-up consumer spending, government stimulus efforts and the accelerating energy transition will continue to drive demand, prices and exploration budgets”, S&P Global Market Intelligence has pointed out in its Metals and Mining Outlook report. From emerging markets viewpoint, Indian metal companies have done significant amount of balance sheet deleveraging and debt reduction over last year and a half which presents good investment opportunities.
Last updated on December 15th, 2022 at 06:37 am