Nifty Auto under pressure; Bajaj Auto sinks post earnings; Bharte Forge, MRF, M-;M also weigh on the performance

20 Jan 2022 , 01:15 PM

Nifty Auto was trading in the red amid weak markets on Thursday. Hero MotoCorp, Maruti, Ashok Leyland and Eicher Motors lend support to the sector amid gloom. Bajaj Auto and MRF emerged the top laggards as quarterly earnings remains the focus.

Corporate earnings season and price hikes in the sector has influenced sentiments.

Indian equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty50 started Thursday’s session on a negative note despite gains across most other Asian markets. At home, IT stocks were the worst hit with oil & gas and select financial stocks pushing the benchmarks off the cliff as well. Heavyweight stocks also dragged the performance in broader markets. 

At around 1.15 pm, BSE Sensex was trading at 59,477.10 down 621.72 points or 1.03% and Nifty50 at 17,767.15 down 171.25 points or 0.95%.

Nifty Auto was trading at 11,604.10 down 77.30 points or 0.66%, after touching a high of 11,750.55 and low of 11,598.95 during intraday trade.

Bajaj Auto slipped over 3.4% at Rs3,319.15 per piece post  quarterly earnings. Net Sales at Rs9,021.65cr in December 2021 up 1.25% from Rs8,909.88cr in December 2020. Quarterly Net Profit at Rs1,429.68cr in December 2021 down 16.7% from Rs1,716.26cr in December 2020.

Tyre company MRF was also 3.33% lower at Rs73,980.00 per piece. Bosch (down 1.89%), Bharat Forge and Amara Raja Batteries down 1.78% each also dragged the sector. Exide India, Mahindra & Mahindra and Balkrishna Industries also dragged over 1%. 

Tata Motors was down 0.6%. The company has announced on an average of 0.9 per cent increase in prices of passenger vehicles with effect from 19 January, in order to partially offset the impact of rise in input costs.

Hero MotoCorp was nearly 1% higher at Rs2,725.25 per piece. The two-wheeler company has been conferred the coveted ‘GreenCo Platinum’ rating for Hero Global Centre for Innovation and Technology (CIT) by the prestigious Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Green Business Centre, as part of the Green Company rating system.

Maruti gained 0.85% at Rs8,084.20 per piece amid new car launches this week. Ashol Leyland gained 0.8% while Eicher Motors was also higher.