Money on the markets

The BSE auto index on Thursday continued its downward trend from the previous session, closing 4.43 percent down.

Losses in automakers such as Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki pushed the Sensex down in the last hour of trade.

The auto sector saw a turnaround from February onwards after a six-month slide, thanks to new launches and easier availability of finance.

Car and utility vehicle sales grew about a third on average in July, their best performance in a year, according to Reuters calculations.

Stocks in the BSE Auto index include heavyweights like Maruti Suzuki (weightage in Sensex is 1.46), Hero Honda (1.32), Tata Motors (0.68) and Mahindra & Mahindra (1.37).

The auto sector index has rallied 64 percent in the past three months, as compared to the 31 percent rise in the main index.

On Thursday, shares in Maruti Suzuki dropped 5.3 percent to 1364 rupees, Hero Honda ended 5.25 percent at 1519 rupees, Mahindra and Mahindra dropped 4.14 percent to 881 rupees while Tata Motors closed 6.93 percent down at 418 rupees.

Would you take advantage of this slide in auto stocks and invest in this sector?