Market Now: Metal stocks melt; SAIL, Jindal Steel sink up to 6%

NEW DELHI: The Nifty Metal index cracked over 3 per cent during morning trade on Friday, with shares of SAIL (down 5.97 per cent) and Jindal Steel & Power (down 5.18 per cent) sinking up to 6 per cent.

The Nifty Metal index was trading 3.02 per cent down at 3,443 around 10:45 am (IST).

Metal stocks cracked in the wake of Chinese steel futures plunging over 6 per cent, touching their lowest level in more than eight months amid mounting trade tensions between China and the US. Iron ore fell to its lowest in nearly nine months.


Shares of NALCO (down 4.41 per cent), Hindustan Zinc (down 3.76 per cent), Hindalco Industries (down 3.76 per cent), Vedanta (down 3.75 per cent), Hindustan Copper (down 3.56 per cent), Tata Steel (down 3.51 per cent), MOIL (down 3.18 per cent), JSW Steel (down 2.64 per cent) and Jindal Stainless (Hisar) (down 2.30 per cent) declined up to 4 per cent.

Benchmark NSE Nifty50 index was down 133 points at 9,982, while the BSE Sensex was 417 points down at 32,589.

Among the 50 stocks in the Nifty index, 6 were trading in the green, while 44 were in the red.

IT majors HCL Technologies, Infosys and Tech Mahindra climbed up to 1 per cent in the Nifty index.

Besides metal players such as Vedanta, Hindalco and Tata Steel, YES Bank and Axis Bank were among the top losers in the Nifty pack of stocks.