Hindustan Zinc defies weak market, trades near 52-week high after record Q3 show

Hindustan Zinc Share Price: Hindustan Zinc shares stayed in focus on Wednesday, holding their ground even as the broader market slipped. The stock was trading about 1.7 per cent higher at Rs 692.35 on the NSE around midday, standing out on a day when most stocks were struggling to find support.

Earlier in the session, Hindustan Zinc touched Rs 699.35, a fresh 52-week high. The move came despite weakness in the frontline indices, with the BSE Sensex down 0.51 per cent at 81,765.30 around 12:06 pm. Selling pressure was visible across sectors, making the stock’s relative strength hard to miss.

This isn’t a one-off spike. Hindustan Zinc has been climbing steadily since it reported its December-quarter numbers. Over the last three trading sessions, the stock has gained close to 10 per cent. Zoom out a bit more, and the rally looks even sharper — the stock is up nearly 53 per cent over the past two months. For context, it had hit a record high of Rs 807 in May last year.

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Numbers that changed the mood

The turnaround in sentiment comes after what was easily the company’s strongest quarterly performance on record. For Q3FY26, Hindustan Zinc posted its highest-ever revenue and profit, helped by a mix of better commodity prices, improved volumes and tighter control on costs.

Revenue for the quarter came in at Rs 10,980 crore, up 28 per cent from the previous quarter and 27 per cent higher than the same period last year. Profit after tax rose to Rs 3,916 crore, marking a sharp 48 per cent quarter-on-quarter jump and a 46 per cent rise on a yearly basis.

At the operating level too, the performance surprised positively. EBITDA stood at Rs 6,087 crore, comfortably ahead of street estimates of around Rs 5,400 crore. Margins expanded to 55.1 per cent, compared with roughly 52 per cent in both the September quarter and the year-ago period.

Management pointed to favourable metal prices and lower production costs as the key reasons behind the margin expansion.

Cost control starts to show

One of the more important takeaways from the quarter was the improvement on the cost side. Hindustan Zinc said it achieved its highest-ever third-quarter metal production during Q3FY26. At the same time, its zinc cost of production fell to USD 940 per tonne — the lowest level seen in the past five years.

Better ore grades, higher use of renewable energy and operational efficiencies across sites helped bring costs down. These factors have become increasingly important as investors look beyond just topline growth and focus more on sustainability of margins.