Shares of Maruti Suzuki tanked over 6 per cent in the morning trade on the bourses today after the leading car maker reported a nearly 60 per cent fall in September quarter net profit.
The company had on Saturday posted a 59.81 per cent fall in net profit to Rs 240.44 crore for the September quarter, which was mainly due to production cuts at its Manesar plant because of labour unrest, besides foreign exchange losses.
Reacting to the numbers, the scrip opened on a sluggish note and dropped 6.07 per cent to an early low of Rs 1,059.45 on the BSE.
A similar movement was witnessed on the National Stock Exchange, where the stock — after opening at Rs 1,072 — fell 5.86 per cent to a low of Rs 1,060.
However, the stock made a moderate recovery in later trade and was being quoted 2.84 per cent lower at Rs 1,096 on the BSE and was down 2.53 per cent at Rs 1,097.50 on the NSE.
The decline in the stock was in tandem with the broader market sentiment, with the 30-share Sensex down 92.71 points at 17,712.09 and the broad-based Nifty trading 41.95 points lower at 5,318.75.
Market analysts said the drop in the counter was a knee-jerk reaction to the September quarter numbers.
The decline in profit was the sharpest since the third quarter of 2008-09, when the company had reported a similar erosion.
The company’s total income from operations during the quarter under review also declined 14.38 per cent to Rs 7,831.62 crore from Rs 9,147.27 crore in the year-ago period.