Mumbai, Oct 12 (IANS): Mining stocks soared on Thursday because of which the Nifty Metal index posted strong gains, said Vaibhav Vidwani, Research Analyst at Bonanza Portfolio.

MOIL jumped 7.9 per cent, while NMDC and Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC) rallied 5.79 per cent and 5.30 per cent, respectively, he said.

The mining of vital and important minerals, including lithium, niobium, and several rare earth elements (REEs), has been permitted by the Cabinet's approval of royalty rates on Wednesday.

The government will levy "reasonable" royalty rates on lithium at 3 per cent of the London Metal Exchange pricing, niobium at 3 per cent of the average selling price, and REE at 1 per cent of the average sale price of rare earth oxide.

Nifty concluded the day on a subdued tone with a tilt towards the downside while Nifty Oil & Gas and Nifty Metal outperform with gains of 1.11 per cent and 0.75 per cent, respectively, Vidwani said.

The Nifty 50 index was down 17 points to close at 19,794 on Thursday, while the Sensex fell by 60 points to end at 66,408.

TCS on Wednesday released Q2 profits which were in line with market projections, but the repurchase price was significantly lower than the previous buyback price, he said.

At a cost of Rs 4,150 per equity share, the TCS board approved buyback of Rs 17,000 crore.

For the first time in several years, US dollar revenue fell, although Q2 EBIT margin was above forecasts.

The top gainers on the Nifty included BPCL, Coal India, Maruti Suzuki, Grasim Industries and Power Grid Corporation, while the losers were Tech Mahindra, Apollo Hospitals, TCS, HCL Technologies and Infosys.