Powered by the performance of Maruti and M&M, the auto index posted a huge gain of about 170 points on the BSE, though the overall market was down.
While the mood was probably set by January numbers of Maruti, which put up a good overall performance, though its domestic sales was only marginally up, the biggest gainer was Hero Motocorp which gained Rs 58.20 to trade at Rs 1,922.10.
Maruti was up by Rs 24.15 at Rs 1,211.70 and Bajaj Auto was trading at Rs 1,615, a gain of about Rs 14. But Tata Motors, which has the highest weightage in the auto index, was only marginally up by Rs 2.70 at Rs 246.30.