Steel strikes wings on consolidation hopes
Steel shares spurted in a broad-based rally soon after news trickled into the market that Mittal Steel will announce a bid to buy Arcelor.
Shares of Sail which had dropped about 2% to Rs 53 in mid-afternoon trade, due to dismal Q3 results, staged a solid rebound later. The stock was up 7.6% to Rs 58.40. A staggering 1.2 crore shares changed hands in the counter on BSE.
Tata Steel jumped 7.8% to Rs 392, Lloyds Steel rose 13.7% to Rs 11.25, Essar Steel jumped 10% to Rs 42.20, Uttam Galva Steel rose 10% to Rs 38.80, Jindal Stainless rose 8% to Rs 98, Bhushan Steel surged 6.8% to Rs 152, and JSW Steel gained 5% to Rs 208.
Tata Steel rose on high volume of 23 lakh shares.
In Europe, trading in Mittal Steel and Arcelor was suspended today following reports that Mittal Steel was set to announce a bid for Arcelor. Shares in UK-based steel firm, Corus, jumped 10.7% and those in Germany's Thyssen added 8%.
An expected acquisition at the global level raised hopes of a consolidation in the steel sector which in turn raised hopes that global steel prices will hold firm. It may be recalled that global steel prices had weakened over the past few months. Impact of large-scale production cut taken by European and American producers was negated by high growth in Chinese production, resulting in softening steel prices in the global market.