Ashok Leyland, Bajaj Auto gain; Maruti Suzuki falls post August sales

Eicher Motors, Tata Motors, TVS Motor Company, Hero MotoCorp and M&M were up 1% on the NSE.

Shares of select automobiles companies such as Ashok Leyland, Bajaj Auto, and Eicher Motors were trading higher by up to 4% on Monday after reporting good vehicle sales in the month of August.

Ashok Leyland, the largest gainer among the auto pack, was up 4.4% to Rs 135 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) as the company reported a growth of 27% year-on-year (yoy) in its total sales at 17,386 units for August. It had sold 13,637 units during the same month of last year, according to its filing to the exchanges.

Sales of medium and heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCV) grew 24% to 13,158 units from 10,570 in the year-ago month. It had sold 10,996 units in the month of July 2018.

Bajaj Auto was up 2% to Rs 2,808 after the company today said it posted highest ever monthly sales in the month of August. The company sold total 437,092 units, 30% higher as compared to 335,031 units sold in the same month last year.

Eicher Motors too up 2% at Rs 28,572 on the NSE. VE Commercial Vehicles, a joint venture between Volvo Group and Eicher Motors reported 32.7% rise in sales in August to 6,069 units.  The company had posted sales of 4,571 units in August 2017, VE Commercial Vehicles said in a statement.

Maruti Suzuki India was, however, trading 1% lower at Rs 9,000 on the NSE. The company reported a 3.3% decline in total August sales at 158,189 units. The company had sold a total of 163,701 units in August 2017.

“Sales during the month were adversely affected due to severe floods in Kerala and heavy rains in other parts of the country,” the company said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Tata Motors, TVS Motor Company, Hero MotoCorp and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) from sector were up 1% each. At 09:56 am; Nifty Auto index was up 0.82% at 11,099 on the NSE, as compared to 0.3% rise in the benchmark Nifty 50 index.

“Tata Motors continued to witness the strong momentum on the back of successful launches and reported an industry beating growth of 28.5% yoy. M&M on the back of strong sales in the pass car and vans segments was able to offset the 2% decline in UV segment,” IIFL Wealth Management said in a client note.

Heavy rains across the country, particularly Kerala, impacted volumes for all automobile OEMs. Passenger vehicles (Cars + UVs + Vans) OEMs witnessed single-digit growth or marginal declines with exception of Tata Motors. Momentum in CVs remained strong against street expectations of decline (impact of axle norms).

“It was widely expected that the commercial vehicle segments will see pressure on the back of the new axle norms issued by the government. However, the strong underlying trends in infrastructure investments, mining activity and industrial activities have translated into continued momentum. All CV players reported double-digit growth across both M&HCV and LCV segment,” the brokerage firm said.