D-Street Buzz: Nifty Auto spikes 5% led by Tata Motors; Bharat Forge, Motherson Sumi up 11-12%

The Indian stock market jumped 3% to a near seven-week high as global sentiment improved on promising early results from a COVID-19 treatment trial.

Sensex jumped 978.91 points or 2.99 percent at 33699.07, and the Nifty spiked 279.70 points or 2.93 percent at 9833.05.

The auto index is the outperforming sector, up over 5 percent as auto companies have started resuming partial manufacturing activities after over a month of lockdown.

Among the gainers, Tata Motors shares surged over 13 percent and has touched upper circuit of Rs 85.95 per share at 11:15 hours with around 6,84,48,108 shares changing hands. The stock price gained over 29 percent in the last 1 month and was trading with volumes of 2,912,598 shares, compared to its five day average of 2,390,654 shares, an increase of 21.83 percent.

The other gainers included Motherson Sumi Systems which jumped 10 percent after global research firm Morgan Stanley maintained its overweight call on the stock with target at Rs 103 per share. It expects a sharp earnings recovery in FY22 as volumes normalise, according to a report by CNBC-TV18. The stock touched upper circuit of Rs 89.50 per share and was trading with volumes of 1,528,296 shares, compared to its five day average of 1,262,703 shares, an increase of 21.03 percent.

Share price of Bharat Forge gained 12 percent while Hero MotoCorp, Ashok Leyland and Mahindra & Mahindra are the other gainers. Bajaj Auto was up over 3 percent. The company's Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj, on April 29 said the company will resume operations at plants only when dealerships open up, adding that he expects the two-wheeler manufacturer to operate at about 50 percent capacity next month.

Share price of Maruti Suzuki was up over 4 percent with the stock gaining over 22 percent in the last 1 month. It was trading with volumes of 49,258 shares, compared to its five day average of 42,994 shares, an increase of 14.57 percent.

Brokerage firm Geojit Financial Services has a buy on Maruti Suzuki with target at Rs 6,100 while Kotak Securities has a buy on Mahindra & Mahindra with target at Rs 625 per share.

Among the auto names, the stocks which hit upper circuit included Mahindra CIE Automotive, Amforge Industries, Varroc Engineering, Tirupati Tyres, JMT Auto, Sintercom India and Metalyst Forgings.