Italy`s Danieli shares fall on CEO comments to Reuters

Shares in Italian group Danieli, one of the worlds biggest steel plant makers, fell 3.5 percent in sharply increased trade volumes on March 23 after the group CEO and Chairman told Reuters project delays due to political unrest in north Africa and the Middle East will slow down sales and profit growth and hit its order book in the current financial year. The shares extended falls to drop as much as 7 percent to hit a one-week low in volumes which exceeded a daily average by more than 3 times after at least two Italian brokerages issued notes citing the company forecasts. Banca Akros cut its target price on the Danieli stock citing the Reuters interview and Intermonte downgraded the stock to neutral from outperform citing an unexpected profit warning on 2011` from the company. The comments were also picked up by Italian financial newspaper MF.