Money on the markets

Tata Motors rises to all-time high

Tata Motors rose to an all-time high on Tuesday, climbing nearly 4 percent on the back of strong investor confidence in a broader market that touched a 32-month high for the third consecutive session.

The scrip opened on a strong note and hit a life-time high of 1,067.50 rupees on the BSE before closing 2.7 percent up at 1054 rupees with volumes of 1.2 million shares.

Tata Motors was also the top performing stock in the Auto index which closed 1.3 percent up.

For the year, the counter has given a return of over 30 percent. Do you think there is more upside to the stock?

Auto stocks post decent gains

The BSE Auto Index gained 1.27 percent on Friday, as a top industry body official said he expected Indian vehicles sales to reach a record high for the second year in a row in 2010/11.

Shares in Tata Motors rose 4.5 percent to 808 rupees and ended as the top gainer among the Sensex and auto index components.

Other stocks also posted decent gains, with TVS Motors rising 3.1 percent and Hero Honda jumping 2 percent.

Only two stocks in the index closed in the red – Escorts and Maruti Suzuki, which dropped 2.4 percent and 0.14 percent respectively.

The sectoral index has gained 3.2 percent since mid-March. Seeing the positive sales outlook in 2010/11, would you place your bets here?

Tata Motors rises

Shares in Tata Motors snapped a two-day fall and ended nearly 1 percent higher at 778 rupees.

Tata Sons, the holding entity for Tata Group firms, and Citigroup acquired 8.65 million shares in Tata Motors, according to BSE data released Tuesday.

Shares in the Tata Motors, which has a market value of $9.1 billion fell over 6 percent in intra-day trade Tuesday as German carmaker Daimler is selling its entire stake in Tata Motors for up to $429 million.

Do you think shares in the counter might fall further?

Auto Index rises

Shares of major auto players rose on Wednesday, pulling the BSE Auto Index up 2.2 percent.

Shares in Mahindra & Mahindra ended 6.1 percent higher at 971 in a market that ended 1.2 percent up. Trade in the counter stood at 0.4 million shares.

The other gainers in this sector included Tata Motor (up 4 percent), Bharat Forge (up 5.8 percent) and Escorts (up 4.5 percent).

Data showed car sales in India increased an annual 21 percent in September for their eighth straight rise, aided by festival spending and easier availability of loans.

Indian automakers sold 129,683 units during the month, compared with 107,517 in the year-ago period, data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed.

The BSE Auto Index has gained over 170 percent so far this year, while the 30-share Sensitive Index has risen nearly 79 percent.

In the current scenario, will you buy auto shares or will you wait for a correction?

Tata Motors’ shares drop 6.6 pct

Tata Motors, India’s largest commercial vehicle maker, ended the week on a disappointing note with its shares registering a drop of 6.6 percent.

The stocks declined 7.4 percent on the NSE.

Tata Motors was the top Sensex loser and also pulled the BSE Auto Index down 1.72 percent, making it the worst sectoral performer of the day.

The company on Friday said it has raised $750 million by issuing GDRs and convertible bonds to pay down debt taken on for its acquisition of JLR brands last year.

Investors have been rewarded quite well recently, with Tata Motors’ shares jumping over 200 percent since April, outperforming the 100 percent rise in the auto index during the same period.

Would you be optimistic about this stock now? Or do you think it can fall further?

Auto sector on the move

The BSE Auto Index closed 1.3 points lower on Wednesday as investors across Asia remained cautious after the overnight slide on Wall Street.

The Auto Index was the top performer yesterday, gaining as much as 2.45 percent in a broader market that shed 115 points.

Automobile stocks are set to benefit from India’s stimulus measures aimed at returning the country to 8 percent growth, according to a top official in HSBC Funds.

The auto industry was one of the worst hit by the financial crisis but better than expected results by most major auto makers and increase in sales have made the outlook positive for the sector.

Maruti Suzuki on September 01 announced August sales rose 42 percent on year while August exports rose almost 157 percent over last year.

The company today said it was confident of maintaining margins despite competition and that there were plans of pumping $130 million in a research and development unit in India.

The automaker’s shares ended 2.2 percent lower at 1510 rupees.

Auto index drops over 4 pct

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.

Auto stocks on a roll

The past two months have been exciting for auto stocks. Helped by better car sales and solid earnings by auto companies, the BSE Auto Index has gained over 20 percent since June, a sharp contrast to the Sensex’s meagre gain of around 4 percent over the same period.

Car sales in India jumped an annual 7.8 percent in June, climbing for a fifth straight month and signifying that demand for autos was picking up.

Automakers have also posted solid Q1 numbers. Maruti Suzuki’s net profit rose 25 percent and the company said it was optimistic about its future growth.

Maruti’s results surprised the market and its shares closed near the all-time high on the result day. The stock has given returns of over 35 percent in the past two months on absolute basis.

Tata Motors too posted an unexpected rise of 58 percent in Q1 profits. Its stock has risen by over 30 percent this month.

Do you think this rally in autos is a strong cue for investing in the market now?

Market ends flat

The stock market got off to a quiet start this week, with the benchmark index closing just 21 points higher at 14,786 ahead of the annual budget next week.

The Sensex was up 1.3 percent at one point, but investors booked profits to take advantage of the rise.

Tata Motors, which ended down 7.7 percent, and Sterlite Industries which gained 5.6 percent, were the top loser and gainer respectively.

The BSE Info Tech Index struggled in trade and ended down over 2 percent as shares in Infosys and TCS dropped over 2 percent. The BSE consumer durables and realty indices were among the top sectoral gainers of the day.

The Bankex gained 1.2 percent with shares like Union Bank of India, Axis Bank and Yes Bank posting decent gains. ICICI Bank, however, slipped 0.75 percent.

Stocks like Central Bank of India, Yes Bank, BEML, Biocon and Dabur India continued their good run and registered their 52-week highs.

The focus now moves to the Budget next week. Do you think market participants will be nervous till then?

Sensex climbs 3.4 pct to cross 10,000 mark

The Sensex jumped 335 points on Thursday to cross the 10,000 mark, driven by strong global markets and short covering in monthly derivative contracts.

There was positive sentiment in most Asian markets, which are seen to influence the Indian benchmark, after U.S. economic data showed that stimulus measures were starting to take effect.

The Indian rally was led mostly by capital goods (up 5.4 percent), power (up 4.02 percent), metals (up 3.9 percent) and banking stocks (up 3.3 percent).

The top gainers included Tata Motors (up 7.9 percent), Tata Steel (up 5 percent), L&T (up 6.1 percent) and Reliance Industries (up 2.1 percent).

The power sector saw good activity with Crompton Greaves (up 14.1 percent), BHEL (up 5.8 percent) and Tata Power (up 5.5 percent) sending the BSE Power Index higher by over 4 percent.

Akruti City, which ended down over 55 percent to close at 819 rupees, pulled the BSE Realty Index lower by 4.5 percent.

FII data showed a positive net investment in equities of $73.8 million, while a net sell off of $19.3 million was seen in debt.