In a bid to better cope with cheaper imports, Indian steelmakers have marginally slashed prices of their flat product like hot-rolled coil (HRC).

JSW Steel slashed the prices of hot rolled coil by Rs500-750 per tonne and prices of wire rod by Rs500 per tonne from the start of April.

Without divulging details of planned price cuts, a spokesperson for Essar Steel said that the company would lower prices of some of its commodity grade flat steel products in April.

Analysts have attributed the cut in prices to the combination of rupee appreciation and declining steel prices in the international market.

JSW Steel has said that it has put its plans to set up a 10 million tonnes steel plant in West Bengal on hold because it has not been able to arrange long term iron ore supplies for the Rs 35,000-crore project.

JSW Chairman and Managing Director Sajjan Jindal said, “It is stalled right now, it’s on hold. Unless we are going to fix the iron ore matter, unless we have the visibility of iron ore, we cannot move ahead. It’s on hold.”

Indian Stock Markets continued in the positive territory on Thursday as the US markets gained smartly on Wednesday. Stock prices of Gold Loan companies witnessed huge demand after reports of loan valuation for gold ratio increase to 75 per cent.

JSW Steel has increased price of all steel products of the company. The stock price was higher in today's session. Maruti Suzuki and M&M witnessed higher sales during December compared to other auto majors facing tough times.

The metal sector has outperformed other indices in trade today due to renewed interest shown by the investors.

Among the major metal shares, Jindal Steel, JSW Steel, Tata Steel and SAIL increased between 2.27 per cent and 0.88 per cent during the day. The BSE Metal Index recorded a strong increase of 8.81 per cent during the previous week while the Sensex has gained 1.17 per cent during the same period.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a chargesheet against former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, some of his relatives, and senior officials of JSW Steel, in a mining scandal.

The case against Yeddyurappa, his two sons and a son-in-law, alleges that the accused de-notified government land to allow kin to buy it for merely Rs. 40 lakhs and sell it JSW linked companies for a whopping Rs 20, way above market value.

JSW Steel Ltd has warned that it challenge the government's recent decision to de-allocate its Gourangdih ABC coal block, insisting that it hadn't done anything wrong.

The Gourangdih ABC block, which is situated West Bengal's Raniganj coalfield, allotted to JSW Steel and its partner Himachal EMTA Power Ltd. in July of 2009. However, the government cancelled the coal block on 18th of September this year, after an inter-ministerial group (IMG) found that the two companies failed to develop the coal block within the prescribed time.

Accepting the recommendation of the Inter Ministerial Group (IMG), the Coal Ministry on Monday cancelled the coal block allotted to JSW Steel Ltd. and Himachal EMTA Power Ltd.

JSW Steel Ltd. and Himachal EMTA Power Ltd. were allotted Gourangdih ABC coal block, but the IMG recommended the de-allocation of the block on Friday, after the company failed to convince the group on why it could not develop the block and start production in time.

International foreign stock brokerage, Credit Suisse has said on Monday that it does not support under-reporting in the financial records of JSW Steel.

The company was clarifying on its adverse equity research report on JSW Steel last week that resulted in a sharp fall in the company's shares on Friday as investors lined up to sell the company's shares. The report had sad that the JSW's debt had been understated by Rs 11,900 crore but the company later said that it does believe there was under-reporting.

The joint managing director and group Chief Financial Officer of JSW Steel, Seshagiri Rao has claimed that the company is a victim of alleged illegal mining while dismissing suggestions that it might be involved in illegal iron ore mining in Karnataka.

JSW Steel registered an increase of 32% in its Q4 total sales to Rs 7,209.35 crore upon the robust domestic demand as well as continuous focus on retail sales. However, the net spending witnessed the bottom line of the company going up at a less-than-proportional rate.

JSW Steel’s Q4 (January-March) total profit went up by 30% to reach Rs 794 crore. According to the steel maker, an improved product-mix along with increased quantities was the main reason behind the strengthened performance of the company in the final quarter of the fiscal year 2010-11.

Mumbai, May 16 : Indian steel major JSW Steel Monday posted a 16 percent increase in its net profit at Rs. 832.66 crore for the quarter ended March 31 as against Rs. 716.95 crore during the like period of the previous fiscal.

The net sales rose 36 percent for the quarter under review at Rs. 7,032.07 crore as against Rs. 5,167.07 crore during the same period of the previous fiscal, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Technical analyst Prakash Gaba has maintained 'buy' rating on JSW Steel Limited stock to attain a target of Rs 1000 in 1-2 trading sessions.

According to analyst, the investors can buy the stock with trailing stop loss of Rs 970.

The stock of the company, on April 25, closed at Rs 978.30 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 84.93 and 11.44 respectively.

The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 1400 and a low of Rs 790 on BSE.

Technical analyst Nitin Murarka of SMC Global is bullish on JSW Steel Limited and has maintained 'hold' rating on the stock to achieve a short term target.

The analyst said that the stock can be purchased to achieve a target of Rs 1000-1050.

Mr. Murarka added that the interested investors can buy the stock with a stop loss of Rs 890.

Today, the stock of the company opened at Rs 905.10 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 1400 and a low of Rs 790 on BSE.

Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 84.93 and 10.81 respectively.

The leading steel firm JSW Steel has informed that there has been a remarkable growth in its crude steel production in the month of January.

The company has issued this statement in a press release today. It has said that, there has been a growth of almost 9% in its crude steel production in January against the same month in the previous year.

The overall crude steel production has gone up to 5.80-lakh tonnes in the month under review. Last year the company had produced 5.33-lakh tonnes for the similar month.

JSW Steel's standalone revenue at Rs58.1bn grew 26% YoY due to increased volume (up 12% YoY) and improved realisation (up 13% YoY) on better product mix and higher steel prices. However, adj. EBITDA at Rs10.1bn declined 2% YoY as operating cost/t rose 20% YoY on higher iron ore and coking coal cost. PAT at Rs3.8bn grew 18% YoY on lower interest and tax outgo.

JSW Steel has proposed to acquire, subject to approvals, 41.3% stake (post full dilution) in Ispat Industries, led by Pramod and Vinod Mittal, by equity infusion of Rs21.6bn (preferential allotment of 1.09bn equity shares at Rs19.85). Mandatory open offer to minority shareholders would follow. With this acquisition, JSW's capacity in India would increase to 11.1mntpa, and is set to reach 14.3mn tpa by FY11-end as 3.2mn tpa brownfield expansion in Karnataka gets commissioned.

Key highlights

JSW Steel Limited (JSWSL) is the second largest private sector steel maker in India. The company provides for a broad range of products which include Hot Rolled Product, Cold Rolled Product, Galvanized Product and Pre-painted Galvanized Product. The company consists of the most modern, eco-friendly steel plants with the latest technologies for both upstream & downstream processes.

KEY INVESTMENT RATIONALE:

Technical analyst Kiran Jadhav has maintained 'hold' rating on JSW Steel Limited with a two-day target of Rs 1190.

The analyst said that the stock can be bought with a stop loss of Rs 1100.

Today, the stock of the company opened at Rs 1132.50 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 1400 and a low of Rs 950 on BSE.

Current EPS & P/E ratio stood 108.36 and 10.60 respectively.

The company announced that it will lift up INR 462 crore via issue of securities to Japan's JFE Steel Corp.

While the third largest steel producer in the country, JSW Steel has recently said that it will be considering an option of setting up a new plant, it also highlighted that it will come up in association with the JFE Holdings for the high-grade electrical steel.

It is expected that the new unit will be meeting the rising demand for specialty alloys. It is to be mentioned here that the project announced by the company will be developed jointly with Japan's second-largest steelmaker.

Moreover, the company may finalize the location near JSW`s factory at Vasind in the western state of Maharashtra.

It has been learned from the sources that JFE, the world's fifth-biggest steelmaker will be picking up a stake in the home-grown steel producer JSW Steel. It is believed that if the deal gets through, the Sajjan Jindal-controlled company will be able to lure lucrative auto clients of the Japanese firm to the Indian company's fold.

It is to be mentioned here that the domestic steel maker has made a comeback from the brink of bankruptcy after it was facing a situation of high burden of interest on its books.