Maruti Suzuki slips nearly 5% on BSE

Auto giant Maruti Suzuki plunged by nearly 5% in early trade on the BSE today, hit by fears of a drop in imports from Japan, which suffered a natural disaster last week.

Shares of the country's biggest car-maker Maruti Suzuki slipped by 4.7% to an early low of Rs 1,200.05 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The stock was the worst hit among the 30-Sensex scrips.

"The stock is suffering due to the last week's earthquake and tsunami in Japan, which has triggered fears that the car maker's margins would suffer this year, which can also see a fall in imports," a market player said.

Selling pressure was also seen in the counters of other major auto companies, including Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) and Tata Motors which are sensitive to interest rate fluctuations.

"The RBI will come up with its policy review on March 17, wherein the apex bank is expected to hike its key policy rates by 25 basis points, which is also leading to the weakness in the interest rate-sensitive auto and realty sectors," said an expert.

M&M fell by 4.08%, while Tata Motors declined by 3.44%, Bajaj Auto by 2.86% and Hero Honda by 2.68%.

Further, the realty sector also took a hit, with realty major DLF shedding 3.85%, DB Realty 3.12% and Unitech 2.89%.

Meanwhile, the BSE benchmark Sensex fell by 253.97 points to 18,185.51 at 1117 hrs today.