Ashok Leyland, the country’s leading commercial vehicle manufacturer, said on Thursday it has won an order from the Tamil Nadu government for providing 552 Ultra-Low Entry (ULE) diesel non-AC buses.

Ashok Leyland, the Indian flagship company of the Hinduja Group, said the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) already operates 18,477 of its buses.

Ashok Leyland has entered into a share purchase agreement with Nissan International Holding BV to acquire the latter's 38 per cent stake in Hinduja Tech Limited (HTL) for Rs 70.20 crore.

The commercial vehicle major on Thursday informed BSE that it has entered into a share purchase agreement with Nissan International Holding BV to acquire 58,500,000 shares for a total consideration of Rs.70,20,00,000/- constituting 38% in the paid-up share capital of Hinduja Tech Limited (HTL).

Ashok Leyland has started production of buses at its new plant in Andhra Pradesh. The development comes at a time when the company's bus volume continues to be under pressure.

In a disclosure to BSE, Ashok Leyland said that commercial production of the buses at the plant set up at Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh commenced on February 19, 2021.

Shares of midcap companies were on a roll on Monday with the S&P BSE Midcap index hitting a record high on the back of a strong rally in metals, financials and public sector undertaking (PSU) stocks.

At 12:50 pm, the S&P BSE Midcap index was up 0.85 per cent at 18,319 levels, as compared to a 0.31-per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. The midcap index hit a record high of 18,363 in the intra-day trade, surpassing its previous high of 18,321, touched on January 9, 2018.

Shares of Ashok Leyland hit a 52-week high of Rs 89.45, surging 6 per cent on the BSE on Tuesday, on expectation that the domestic truck and light commercial vehicle (LCV) sector recovery may continue to gather pace over the second half (October-March) of the current fiscal. The stock of the commercial vehicle company has outperformed the market in the past three months by surging 73 per cent, as against 13 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.

Shares of Ashok Leyland gained 4 per cent at Rs 85.35 on the BSE on Tuesday, gaining 8 per cent in the past two trading days after the company reported healthy growth in sales of trucks and low commercial vehicles (LCVs) in the month of October.

The stock of commercial vehicle maker was trading close to its 52-week high of Rs 87.50 touched on January 24, 2020. In past three months, it rallied 72 per cent, as compared to 8.6 per cent gain in the S&P BSE Sensex.

Shares of Ashok Leyland were under pressure for the second straight day on Friday, plunging 15 per cent to hit an over five-year low of Rs 41.10, on the BSE, after the company announced acquisition of around 19 per cent stake in its subsidiary Hinduja Leyland Finance (HLFL). The stock has tanked 36 per cent in the past two trading days, and was quoting at its lowest level since September 2014.

Shares of auto companies were trading with up to 19 per cent cut on the NSE on Thursday as panic selling continued amid growing fears of economic dislocation due to pandemic Coronavirus (Covid-19).

Nifty Auto index hit a six-year low today. At 10:33 am, the index was trading 7.5 per cent lower at 5,102 levels with 14 out of 15 components declining. In comparison, the benchmark Nifty50 index was hovering around 8,000 levels, down 466 points or 5.5 per cent.

Ashok Leyland reported a 47 per cent drop in the total medium and heavy commercial vehicle (M&HCV) domestic sales during the month of February 2020 at 6,745 units as against 12,621 units, a year ago.

The drop came due to the truck business, which dropped by 58 per cent to 4,706 units from 11,117 units, while domestic bus sales rose by 36 per cent to 2,039 units from 1.504 units.

Hinduja group flagship firm Ashok Leyland on Monday reported 39.9 per cent decline in total vehicles sales at 11,850 units in January.

The company had sold 19,741 units in the same month last year, Ashok Leyland said in a regulatory filing.

Total domestic vehicles sales stood at 10,850 units in January against 18,533 units in the year-ago period, registering a decline of 41.4 per cent.

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