Automaker stocks gained in India after the government said it will look into cutting taxes on some vehicles. The overall market was little changed.

A measure of automotive stocks climbed 1.5 per cent, the most among 19 industry groups, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex Index was little changed as of 11:36 am in Mumbai.

Hero Motocorp Ltd led peers higher, with a 4.6 per cent gain after the stock was raised to overweight from underweight at Morgan Stanley. A government committee will consider an industry request for a lower goods and services tax rate on two wheelers, the finance ministry said in a statement after market hours yesterday.

A GST cut could trigger a sharp demand revival on a multi-year low industry base, Binay Singh, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, wrote in a note. Hero Motors is the key beneficiary, if a GST cut includes premium bikes.

Both the Sensex and the broader NSE Nifty 50 gauge are closing in on records touched in January after rebounding by about 50 per cent from coronavirus triggered plunges in March. Both measures may be volatile ahead of the expiry of futures and options contracts tomorrow.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year government bond fell by two basis points to 6.11 per cent, while the rupee weakened 0.1 per cent to 74.3813 per dollar.

India’s quarterly earnings season is nearly over, with nearly two-thirds of the Nifty 50 index members that have reported beating or matching analyst estimates. The three companies yet to post results are Coal India Ltd, ONGC and Vedanta Ltd.

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