The Hindu Business Line : Long march over?

According to a market source, there is news that China will become a net exporter of the commodity by June when a new giant mill begins rolling out competitively priced steel products. Reportedly, the new plant will boost China's steel-making capacity by about 22 million tonne per annum.

There were also reports that steel prices have already hit the downtrend in that country, whose voracious appetite for the metal has supported prices for almost a year now. Shares of Tisco, which makes the world's cheapest steel, lost nearly 8 per cent to Rs 388.50 per share. State-owned SAIL, and private sector steel-makers Jindal Iron and Steel and Essar Steel all lost more than 10 per cent to close at Rs 36.65 per share, Rs 198.90 per share and Rs 15.10 per share respectively.

Sellers everywhere

THERE are many who make money when the stock market is rising. But there are only a few who can make money when it is falling too. Some of the top brokers are said to have gone short in many PSU stocks on Monday. A few speculators have also joined them in selling select stocks, a broker said. The market grapevine has it that some investors are expecting the Sensex to drop to near 5200 over the next few days. Some brokers are advising clients to begin buying stocks if the index falls from Monday's levels. The big brokers, who have short-sold PSU stocks are, however, said to be holding long positions in frontline technology stocks.

The large-scale selling in PSU stocks shaved about 3.26 per cent or 126 points off the BSE's PSU index that closed at 3765.

Short corporate

THE stock market grapevine has it that a powerful corporate group has been selling shares of GAIL and IPCL. According to a source, the group is likely to buy these shares at lower levels over the next couple of days. GAIL shares lost nearly 5 per cent to end the day at Rs 215.50 per share with about 20 lakh shares traded on the BSE and over 48 lakh on the NSE.

The IPCL stock fell 2.7 per cent to close at Rs 188.20 with a volume of 37.8 lakh shares on the BSE and 68.8 lakh shares on the NSE.

Dinesh Narayanan

More Stories on : Stock Markets | Ear to the ground

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