Auto stocks outperform amid flat trade; Maruti Suzuki up 2%

Auto stocks were among the top gainers amid robust August sales

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Benchmark indices continue to trade flat with auto stocks leading the gains amid robust sales in August.

At 1:40PM, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 24 points at 28,448 and the Nifty50 was up 2 points at 8,776. Among broader markets, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up 0.5% each.

Globally, the potential for strong US job data later in the day - which would raise chances of a Federal Reserve rate hike soon - kept Asian financial markets nervously marking time on Friday.

Back home, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 301.51 crore yesterday as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

Besides, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that for the country as a whole, cumulative rainfall during this year's monsoon so far (till 31 August 2016) was 3% below the long period average (LPA).

Tata Motors was up over 2%. The company recorded vehicle sales (including exports) growth of 6% in August 2016 at 43,061 vehicles compared to 40,679 units in August 2015.

Maruti was up over 2%. Maruti Suzuki India posted a 12.2 per cent rise in total sales in August at 1,32,211 units as against 1,17,864 units in the same month a year ago.

Lupin announced that its US subsidiary Gavis Pharmaceuticals LLC, USA has received tentative approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to market a generic version of Pfizer Inc.'s Zithromax for oral suspension, 100mg/5ml and 200mg/5ml.

Hero MotoCorp reported a 28% growth in its total two-wheeler sales at 6.16 lakh units in August 2016 over August 2015.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that the acquisition of land in Singur by the Left Front government of West Bengal in 2006 for Tata Motors’ Nano car project was illegal and it had violated the procedure laid down by law. Tata Motors is up over 1%.

Housing Development Finance Corp Ltd, India’s largest mortgage lender, on Wednesday informed exchanges that it was opening the second tranche of its rupee denominated Masala bonds offering to raise another Rs 500 crore. The stock has gained by 1%.

On the losing side, Bharti Airtel has dropped by over 1%. Bharti Airtel said that the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh (High Court) approved the merger of Airtel Bangladesh into Robi Axiata owing to certain conditions.

Bajaj Auto was trading flat after it reported 5% per cent decline in its total sales at 3,25,347 units in August as against 3,41,965 in the same month a year ago.

L&T was down 1%. The company said its construction arm has bagged orders worth Rs 1,458 crore across business verticals.

Among other shares, JK Infraprojects down 5% at Rs 156 on the BSE, extending previous days 5% decline, after the company said that the board meeting of the company for the publication of the un-audited financial results for the quarter ended and year to date ended on June 30, 2016 (Q1), is cancelled/postponed due to the ongoing routine search of income tax (IT) department. The company is scheduled to declare Q1 results on September 02, 2016.

MBL Infrastructures too locked in 10% lower circuit at Rs 63, also its 52-week low on the BSE. In the past nine trading sessions, the stock tanked 46% from Rs 117 on August 22.

The company in a release said that the board will meet on September 12 to consider Q1 results and appointment/internal transfers of key managerial personnel/internal transfers of the company. Earlier, the board scheduled to meet on August 12, to consider June quarter results, which was adjourned.