Auto shares rebound; Nifty Auto index up 2%

Tata Motors, M&M, Eicher Motors, Maruti Suzuki and Escorts were up more than 2% each

Shares of automobile companies rallied by up to 9% on the bourses, erasing their early morning losses after reported a December sales figures.

Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), Eicher Motors, Maruti Suzuki India, Escorts, SML Isuzu and Force Motors were up 2% to 9% on the BSE in intra-day trade.

At 03:03 pm; Nifty Auto index was up 2% at 9,328 as compared to 0.03% decline in the Nifty 50 index. The auto index hit an intra-day high of 9,334 after hitting low of 9,099 in early morning trade.

Among the individual stocks, Escorts has rallied 9% to Rs 324 after farm equipment maker reported 15.8% increase in tractor sales at 3,187 units in December 2016. The company had posted tractor sales of 2,751 units in the same month previous year, Escorts Ltd said in a BSE filing.  It posted 2.1% growth in tractor sales at 4,806 units in November 2016.

M&M was up 4% to Rs 1,230, bouncing back 5% from intra-day low of Rs 1,171 on the BSE. The company reported 9% increase in total tractor sales at 14,047 units in December. It had sold 12,868 units in the same month last year.

Total sales of the company however declined 4% at 36,363 units in December. The company had sold 37,915 units during the same month in 2015, it added.

Commenting on the month’s performance, Rajesh Jejurikar, President and Chief Executive – Farm Equipment and Two Wheeler Division, M&M said, with good progress in Rabi sowing and increased MSPs, we expect to see the growth momentum to continue in the coming months.

“The auto industry continues to go through challenging times; grappling with the short term effects of demonetisation as well as reduced and postponed purchase decisions. However, we believe there will be a gradual pick-up in demand starting next few months,” said Pravin Shah, President & Chief Executive (Automotive), M&M.

Bajaj Auto however, trading 1% lower at Rs 2,606 after hitting low of Rs 2,556 as the company reported a 22% decline in total sales in December at 225,529 units as against 289,003 units during the same month a year ago.

Meanwhile, the country’s largest bank State Bank of India (SBI) announced a steep interest rate cut in several years on Sunday, by reducing its marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) by 90 basis points (bps) across all maturities.  CLICK HERE TO READ FULL REPORT.

COMPANY	LATEST	PREV CLOSE	GAIN(%)
ESCORTS	318.50	296.45	7.44
M & M	1230.90	1184.45	3.92
SML ISUZU	1120.00	1077.90	3.91
FORCE MOTORS	3867.95	3741.85	3.37
TATA MOTORS	487.10	471.35	3.34
EICHER MOTORS	22493.95	21812.10	3.13
TATA MOTORS-DVR	308.05	299.15	2.98
MARUTI SUZUKI	5454.15	5323.00	2.46
ATUL AUTO	415.00	407.40	1.87
ASHOK LEYLAND	80.90	80.10	1.00
TVS MOTOR CO.	363.80	360.65	0.87