Metal stocks witnessed severe drubbing, falling as much as 14 per cent today, after the Supreme Court held that all coal block allocations made since 1993 till 2010 before pre-auction era during previous NDA and UPA regimes have been done in an illegal manner.
Following this, shares of Jindal Steel & Power slumped 13.97 per cent to Rs 253.15 on the BSE. The stock was the worst performer among the 30-Sensex scrips.
Hindalco Industries plunged 9.56 per cent, while Tata Steel lost 4.79 per cent and Sesa Sterlite was down 3.89 per cent on the BSE.
Similarly, shares of JSW Steel went down by 3.52 per cent, Hindustan Zinc lost 2.33 per cent, SAIL (1.99 per cent) and NMDC (1.89 per cent).
Led by the dip in these stocks, the BSE metal index fell by 4.34 per cent to close the day at 12,291.38.
Analysts said that the latest news on irregularity in coal block allocation scam triggered the panic button in the last one and half hour and led to steep decline in metal counters.
"Supreme Court's decision, stating that coal allocation since 1993 as illegal, triggered strong selling pressure in stocks like Hindalco and JSPL," said Nidhi Saraswat, Senior Research Analyst, Bonanza Portfolio.
The Supreme Court today held that all coal block allocations made since 1993 till 2010 before pre-auction era during previous NDA and UPA regimes have been done in an illegal manner by an "ad-hoc and casual" approach "without application of mind".
However, the consequences arising from the verdict of such coal blocks will be considered after further hearing by the apex court.
The apex court, which examined the allocation of 218 blocks, said "Common good and public interest have, thus, suffered heavily" as "there was no fair and transparent procedure, all resulting in unfair distribution of the national wealth."
Meanwhile, in the stock market the BSE benchmark Sensex ended at 26,437.02, up 17.47 points.
