Auto stocks gain as Maruti Suzuki increases production in November

Shares of automobile companies gained on Monday after Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) increased its production in November. At 10:30 AM, the S&P BSE Auto index climbed 1.5 per cent as compared to a flat benchmark S&P BSE Sensex and was the top gainer among BSE sectoral indices.

Among individual stocks, Maruti Suzuki India, Tata Motors, and Motherson Sumi rose over 2 per cent each. Eicher Motors, Ashok Leyland, Mahindra & Mahindra, TVS Motor, Hero MotoCorp were all up in the range of 1-2 per cent, while Bajaj-Auto was also trading higher.

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) increased its production in November by 4.33 per cent, after having reduced output for nine straight months due to lower demand.

The company produced a total of 141,834 units in November as against 135,946 units in the year-ago month, MSI said in a regulatory filing. Passenger vehicles' production last month stood at 139,084 units as against 134,149 units in November 2018, an increase of 3.67 per cent, it added. READ THE EXCHANGE FILING HERE

In October, the automaker had cut its production by 20.7 per cent to 1,19,337 units.

Similarly, in September the automaker reduced its production by 17.48 per cent to 1,32,199 units.

“Shifting of segment of new WagonR from Mini to Compact impacted the segmental sales volume. MSIL’s overall sales performance is slowly getting better, while the company also indicated strong improvement in enquiry level over the past 2-3 months. Company’s retail sales grew by single-digit year on year during the festive season,” analysts at Reliance Securities said in November auto sector update.