Evergrande crisis: Metal index down 6.8% amid fears of lower China demand

Analysts, however, see the fall in iron ore prices a lead indicator and expect steel prices to decline soon

There was a meltdown in metal stocks on Monday as a debt crisis at one of China’s biggest property developers, Evergrande, led to a global decline in industrial metals and ore prices.

The BSE Metal index, which tracks the prices of India’s top 10 metal and mining companies, was down 6.8 per cent on Monday, its worst showing in months. In comparison, the Sensex was down 0.9 per cent during the day.

The sell-off in the metal space was led by steel makers and iron ore producers while non-ferrous metal producers escaped with minor losses. Tata Steel was the biggest