U.S. Steel, Nucor Shares Fall as China's Output Rises (Update2)
June 20 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Steel Corp., Nucor Corp. and Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. led a decline in steel-company shares after China said its production of the metal surged 38 percent last month.
U.S. Steel, based in Pittsburgh, tumbled $1.78, or 4.3 percent, to $39.41 at 4:01 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Nucor, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, fell $1.43, or 2.6 percent, to $52.93. Los Angeles-based Reliance dropped 89 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $40.06.
China produced 29.8 million metric tons of steel in May, or about a third of global output, the International Iron and Steel Institute, a Brussels-based industry association, said. China became a net exporter of steel in September and has been a net exporter every month through April.
``Business remains very strong in China,'' Charles Bradford, a New York-based independent analyst, said. ``There's still a question of where the steel is going, if it's going into inventory or to make products.''
The price of the benchmark steel sheet in the U.S. fell to $535 a ton in May, down 29 percent from the peak of $756 in September, according to pricing service Purchasingdata.com.
The Standard and Poor's Supercomposite Steel Index, which includes 13 steel companies, fell 2.63 to 101.62, the biggest drop since May 13. Shares of Regina, Saskatchewan-based Ipsco Inc. fell C$5.46, or 8.5 percent, to C$59 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, the biggest one-day drop since September 2002.
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