March 19 (Reuters) - Shares of Indian steel companies rose in early trade on Wednesday after a government body recommended a temporary tax on some steel products in a bid to curb cheap imports.
An index of metal company shares .NIFTYMET rose 0.8%, with industry leader JSW Steel and Tata Steel among the top ten gainers on the Nifty 50 index .NSEI, which was trading flat.
Shares of JSW Steel JSTL.NS rose 1.5%, while Tata Steel TISC.NS climbed 2.1% as of 9:30 a.m. IST. State-owned SAIL SAIL.NS rose 2.6% and Jindal Steel and Power JNSP.NS gained about 1%.
The Directorate General of Trade Remedies, under the federal trade ministry, has recommended a 12% temporary tax or safeguard duty for 200 days on certain steel products in a bid to curb "serious injury" to the domestic industry.
(Reporting by Manvi Pant in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
((Manvi.Pant@thomsonreuters.com; +918447554364;))