Tyre shares in demand; Apollo Tyres at new high

Apollo Tyres, Ceat, Goodyear India, JK Tyre, Balkrishna Industries and TVS Srichakra are up 4-17% on the BSE.

Shares of tyre companies have rallied upto 17%, accompanied by heavy volumes, on expectations of higher revenue growth during the current fiscal.

Apollo Tyres, Ceat, Goodyear India, JK Tyre Industries, Balkrishna Industries and TVS Srichakra are up 4-17% each on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

JK Tyre has surged 17% to Rs 211 with an over ten-fold jump in trading volumes. A combined 4.65 million representing 11.3% of total equity of the company has changed hands on the counter till noon deals against an average sub-one million shares that were traded daily in the past two weeks.

Ceat has rallied nearly 10% to Rs 402 on the BSE. The stock opened at Rs 369 and touched high of Rs 407 so far.  A combined 2.55 million shares changed hands on the BSE and NSE so far.

Apollo Tyres too soared 8% to Rs 175, also its new high on the BSE. A combined over 10 million shares changed hands on the counter so far on both the exchanges.

Apollo Tyres is benefitting from weak input prices, which is driving profitability in its Indian operations, while its European subsidiary is likely to benefit from a macro-recovery in the continent. Further, Vredestein has reported double digit-volume growth in a soft market, driven by gains in the summer tyre segment, says an analyst at JP Morgan in a report.

Despite the weak demand, tyre companies have benefitted from declining raw material prices. The weakening rubber prices have substantially improved the profitability of the industry - margins across the leading industry players are now in double digits, added the report.