Metal shares under pressure; Tata Steel, JSPL, Vedanta down over 5%

Shares of metal companies were under pressure with Tata Steel, Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) and Vedanta slipping more than 5% on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Steel Authority of India (SAIL), National Aluminium Company (Nalco), Hindustan Zinc, JSW Steel, Hindalco Industries and NMDC were down in the range of 1% to 4%.

At 02:13 pm; Nifty Metal index, the largest loser among sectoral indices, was down 2.7% at 3,497 as compared to 0.53% decline in the Nifty 50 index. In past one month, the metal index underperformed the market by falling 9.5% against 1% decline in the benchmark index.

Tata Steel, Vedanta, Nalco, SAIL, Hindustan Zinc and NMDC were down between 10% and 16% in past one month.

Vedanta slipped 6% to Rs 254, its lowest level since July 4, 2017 on the NSE, after at least nine people were killed and another 20 injured on Tuesday on the 100th day of protest against the expansion of Vedanta's Sterlite Copper unit in Tamil Nadu's Tuticorin, also known as Thoothukudi. CLICK HERE TO READ FULL REPORT

According to media report, the Madurai bench of Madras High Court on Wednesday stopped the construction of a new copper smelter by Sterlite industries.