Steel stocks in focus as Tata Steel posted good sales, production in Q2FY18

Shares of frontline steel companies were up in the range of 2% to 7% after the Tata Steel reported a good sales and production in July – September quarter of the current fiscal (Q2FY18).

Tata Steel, Steel Authority of India (SAIL), Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL), JSW Steel, Jindal Saw and Jindal Stainless (Hisar) from the S&P BSE500 index were up between 2% and 4% on the BSE. Vardhman Special Steels, Prakash Industries, Maharashtra Seamless, Surya Roshni, Sarda Energy & Minerals and Mukand were up in the range of 3% to 9%.

Tata Steel rallied 5% to Rs 691 on BSE in intra-day deal, trading close to its 52-week high of Rs 697 touched on September 21, 2017.

The company’s sales volume increased 17% on a year-on-year (yoy) basis to 6.4 million tonne (MT) and production grew by 4.7% yoy to 6.22 MT in Q2FY18, according to the provisional production and sales performance figures released by the company on Wednesday after market hours.

Tata Steel said it blast furnaces and sinter plants at the Jamshedpur achieved the best-ever second quarter production of 2.8 MT and 2.9 MT, respectively. The previous best for both had been reported in Q2FY16.

Meanwhile, Tata Steel Europe deliveries were higher, reflecting stable market conditions and improved finishing processes, it added.

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