Posco, the world’s third-largest steelmaker by production, fell the most in more than two months in Seoul trading after it cut full-year profit forecast by 7 percent.
Posco, ranked after ArcelorMittal and China’s Baosteel Group Corp. by the World Steel Association, dropped 4.1 percent to close at 498,000 won on the Korea Exchange, the biggest loss since July 30. The benchmark Kospi index rose 0.4 percent. Local rival Hyundai Steel Co. fell 3.4 percent, the biggest drop since Sept. 16, and Nippon Steel Corp., Japan’s biggest, retreated 1.5 percent to 270 yen, the lowest price since April 1 last year.
“Posco shares seem to be reacting to the weaker-than- expected earnings and, more importantly, to the lowered profit forecast,” said Chung Ji Yun, a basic materials analyst with HI Investment & Securities Co. in Seoul. “The shares may be weighed on by the results for the time being.”
Operating profit will probably be 5.2 trillion won ($4.7 billion) for the 12 months ending Dec. 31, compared with its earlier forecast of 5.6 trillion won, the Pohang-based company said yesterday after reporting the first decline in net income in four quarters.
Net income dropped to 1.04 trillion won in the three months ended Sept. 30, from 1.14 trillion won a year earlier, Posco said yesterday. That fell short of the 1.13 trillion won average of 14 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
HI Investment’s Chung today cut her six-month price estimate for the stock to 600,000 won from 650,000 won.
The shares have fallen 19 percent this year, underperforming a 12 percent advance in the Kospi on concern that investors may be unable to pass on increased costs to customers. (Bloomberg)
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