Metals Winners & Losers: Alcoa Surges

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of aluminum producers surged Tuesday, leading metals stocks into the green.

With the dollar weakening, investors continued to plunge into certain commodities. Aluminum futures jumped 1.8% and copper gained 1.7% in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange Tuesday.

Alcoa(AA Quote), the big Pittsburgh-based smelter, added 8% to $13.99 in hectic trading. Nearly 50 million shares of issue changed hands during the regular session. Average daily volume is 35 million. Kaiser Aluminum(KALU Quote), meanwhile, spiked 9.4% to $40.46.

Steel stocks also gained ground Tuesday. Better-than-expected monthly retail sales figures hinted at a strengthening economy, but, more to the point, weekly numbers indicated that steelmakers continue to boost production even as a number of market watchers and company executives worry that real demand for steel remains sluggish.

Nucor(NUE Quote) CEO Dan DiMicco said as much in a company statement offering financial guidance that projected a wider-than-expected loss for the third quarter.

Shares of Nucor rose 2% to $47.79, lagging most of its peers. U.S. Steel(X Quote), for instance, advanced 4.8% to $48.98 while AK Steel(AKS Quote) jumped 5.7% to $23.11. American depositary receipts of the world's biggest steelmaker, Luxembourg's ArcelorMittal(MT Quote), added 3.5% to $41.67.

Elsewhere, copper giant Freeport McMoRan(FCX Quote) saw its shares rise 1% to $71.32. The company is facing a political headwind in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where its Tenke Fungurume project has yet to settle its contract with the government, while its Grasberg mine in Papua, Indonesia, endured fresh violence over the weekend. Two security guards were injured in a shooting.

-- Written by Scott Eden in New York

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