Ashok Leyland hits lifetime high

The stock moved higher to its lifetime high of Rs 101, up 4% on the National Stock Exchange

Ashok Leyland has moved higher to its lifetime high of Rs 101, up 4% on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in an intra-day trade.

The counter has seen a huge trading volumes with a combined 11.36 million shares changing hands on the NSE and BSE till 11:15 AM.  An average 12.43 million shares were traded daily in past two-weeks.

The company on March 17, said Hinduja Automotive released part or 65.2 million shares representing 2.29% of total shares capital on March 16, lying with HSBC towards collateral for loans taken by the company.

Meanwhile, thus far in the current month, the stock rallied 15% from Rs 88 after the company reported a 25% growth in total sales during the month of February 2016 at 13,403 units as compared to 10,762 units.

The sales of medium and heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCV) sales rose by 31% to 10,798 units as against 8,230 units. Light commercial vehicles (LCV) sales rose by 3% to 2,605 units from 2,532 units, a year ago.

The management expects, truck demand continues to benefit from strong replacement demand, a modernisation of the existing fleet, improvement in profitability of fleet owners and a boost in freight demand from sectors such as infrastructure.

“The strong momentum is likely to continue into Q4 and the industry will likely register double digit growth in FY17. While the macro economic situation remains mixed, nonetheless M&HCV demand will likely remain robust on a low base, strong replacement demand and growth in segments like mining,” IDFC Securities said in a recent report.