BRUSSELS: ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, dampened recovery expectations yesterday with a muted forecast for the final three months of 2009 after a return to profit in the third quarter.

Its shares fell as much as 6.4 percent to a three-month low of 22.94 euros shortly after the opening before trimming losses to trade down 2.9 percent at 23.79 at 1040 GMT. The DJ Stoxx European basic resources index was off 4.3 percent.

ArcelorMittal, with output some three times greater than nearest rival Nippon Steel and holding nearly 8 percent of the global market, said it expected its much-watched core profit (EBITDA) to be between $2.0 and $2.4 billion in the fourth quarter.