Tata Steel posted its second straight quarterly loss on Wednesday, as weak demand and

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prices in its main European market squeezed margins.

Tata, which operates nearly two-thirds of its 28-million-tonne capacity in Europe, reported a worse-than-expected net loss of 7.6 billion rupees for the three months to December 31. Net sales fell 3 percent to 318.21 billion rupees.

Analysts on average had expected the company to report a net loss of 745 million rupees for the December quarter, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine Smart Estimate data.

The net loss for the quarter compared with a loss of 6 billion rupees a year earlier.

Shares in Tata Steel, valued at $6.9 billion, closed down 2.3 percent ahead of the results announcement.