Nifty Auto gains despite lackluster auto sales

Brushing aside the not so pleasing auto companies sales figures for the month of March on Monday, Nifty Auto rose up by nearly 1 per cent with a major contribution from Tata Motors.

Nifty Auto accelerated by 76.05 points or 0.91 per cent and made intraday high of 8,492.35 and settled at 8,411.40. A major contributor to this gain was Tata Motors, as it jumped nearly 7 per cent on the expectation of better JLR numbers in Q4.

Of the Nifty Auto stocks, here are the sales figures for the top three companies namely Maruti Suzuki, M&M, and Ashok Leyland.

Maruti Suzuki, a leader in passenger car space, posted a decline of 1.6 per cent in sales numbers. It sold total of 1,58,076 units in March 2019 which includes 1,47,613 units in the domestic market and 10,463 units of exports. It has registered de-growth of 1.5 per cent in sales of Domestic Passenger Vehicles. Also, exports sales declined by 12.9 per cent YoY.

Mahindra & Mahindra, which has a presence from two-wheeler to tractor space, posted muted sales numbers. It sold 62,952 vehicles during March 2019, showing marginal YoY growth of 1 per cent. It has registered 4 per cent YoY growth in Passenger Vehicles and 4 per cent YoY decline in Commercial Vehicles. Its domestic sales increased marginally by 1 per cent whereas exports jumped by 15 per cent. Under the Farm equipment division, domestic sales increased by 4 per cent whereas exports declined 12 per cent.

Ashok Leyland, which offers a range of trucks and heavy vehicles, posted poor numbers for the month. The total number of vehicles sold in March 2019 was 21,535, showing 4 per cent YoY decline. Domestic sales declined by 5 per cent with sales of 20,521 vehicles in March 2019.