Global financial services firm Citi has downgraded domestic steel players, saying falling steel prices, rising leverage and valuations make India steel unattractive. Citi downgraded Tata Steel to ‘sell’ from ‘neutral and cut the target price to Rs 440 from Rs 620 earlier.

It also downgraded SAIL to ‘sell’ from ‘neutral’ and slashed the target price to Rs 40 from Rs 72.

Shares of Tata Steel and SAIL were trading 0.75 per cent and 2.26 per cent down at Rs 507.20 and Rs 51.80, respectively, at around 9.30 am (IST), while the BSE Sensex was up 145 points, or 0.41 per cent, at 35,457 at around the same time. Citi downgraded JSW Steel to ‘sell’ from ‘buy’ and revised the target price to Rs 290 from Rs 410 earlier.

Shares of the company were trading 0.15 per cent down at Rs 304.70 at around the same time. It expects steel prices to normalise in 2019 as China demand slows.

The BSE Metal index was trading 0.25 per cent down at 11,511 in morning trade.

However, Hindalco (up 0.60 per cent), National Aluminium (up 0.55 per cent), Hindustan Zinc (up 0.15 per cent) and Vedanta (up 0.26 per cent) were trading higher in the morning deals.