Domestic markets trade in green; two-wheeler, CV stocks in focus

Motilal Oswal said, "BS III vehicles ban led to correction in auto stocks. Industry has unsold BS-III vehicles inventory of 0.82-0.90 million units as of last week Highest impact of the ban would be felt by the CV segment as significant inventory was built up in anticipation of pre-buying

BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty opened in green on Thursday after Lok Sabha passed four GST bills on late Wednesday night. Sensex was trading at 29,617.12, up 85 points or 0.29%, while Nifty was trading at 9,160.10, up 16 points.

Top gainers on BSE included State Bank of India at Rs 291.30 per piece (1.29%), followed by Adani Ports at Rs 323.80 per piece (1.08%), Hero Motocorp at Rs 3254.75 per piece (0.98%), Sun Pharma at Rs 693.50 per piece (0.71%) and Reliance Industries at Rs 1263.30 per piece (0.69%).

Losers included Axis Bank at Rs 498 per piece (1.18%), Tata Motors at Rs 464.55 per piece (0.97%), Bharti Airtel at Rs 342.95 per piece (0.57%) and Tata Steel at Rs 482.20 per piece (0.24%).

Meanwhile, auto stocks were trading cautiously after Supreme Court on Wednesday banned the sale Bharat Stage (BS) III vehicles from April 1.

Motilal Oswal said, "BS III vehicles ban led to correction in auto stocks. Industry has unsold BS-III vehicles inventory of 0.82-0.90 million units as of last week Highest impact of the ban would be felt by the CV segment as significant inventory was built up in anticipation of pre-buying."

S&P BSE Auto was trading flat at 21,923.11. Except Tata Motors other major auto players were trading in green. Hero MotoCorp (Rs 3241 per piece), Maruti Suzuki (Rs 5971.45 per piece), Bajaj Auto (Rs 2836.05 per piece, Mahindra & Mahindra (Rs 1267.85 per piece) and Eicher Motors (Rs 25,087.05 per piece) in the range of 0.10% - 0.60%.

Indian rupee was trading higher against US dollar. The rupee was trading at 64.955 up by 0.170 paisa or 0.26% against dollar.