Nov 8 Reuters Indian miner Vedanta Ltd posted a biggerthanexpected secondquarter profit on Friday buoyed by higher metals prices even as demand was sluggish.

The conglomerate, led by billionaire Anil Agarwal, reported consolidated net profit of 43.52 billion rupees about 516 million for the September quarter, which surpassed analysts39; average estimate of 23.67 billion rupees, as per data compiled by LSEG.

Vedanta had posted a loss of 17.83 billion rupees in the yearago period, as it paid a total of 84.56 billion rupees in tax, including a onetime charge for minimum alternate tax.

In the reporting quarter, Vedanta benefitted from higher prices of aluminium, zinc and copper, its biggest businesses.

Domestic aluminium prices surged 10.7 in the JulySeptember quarter, while copper prices and zinc prices rose 11.7 and 14.4, as per Systematix Institutional Research.

The benchmark aluminium , copper and zinc prices on the London Metal Exchange strengthened on a weaker U.S. dollar and expectations of economic recovery in major consumer China following a barrage of stimulus measures.

Higher commodity prices tend to raise selling prices and margins for mining companies.

Vedanta Aluminium, which is the country39;s largest producer of the metal, reported a 15 rise in pretax profit to 137.34 billion rupees. The company39;s copper and zinc businesses reported 38 and 21 pretax profit growth, respectively.

Revenue from operations dipped 3.6 to 371.71 billion rupees amid subdued…