Tata Motors slips 2% as JLR February sales disappoint

NEW DELHI: Tata Motors Ltd slipped nearly 2 per cent in early trade on Wednesday, after JLR posted lower-than-expected retail volumes for February 2013.

At 09:20 am, Tata Motors was trading 1.9 per cent lower at Rs 297. It has hit a low of Rs 297.35 and a high of Rs 306 in trade today.

JLR posted lower-than-expected retail volumes for February 2013 primarily due to a sharp 23 per cent YoY decline in volumes in China following the festival season in February which resulted in lower working days.

"The sales momentum in other geographies, however, remained strong with US, Asia Pacific and UK posting a strong volume growth of 19 per cent, 19 per cent and 15 per cent YoY respectively," Angel Broking said in a report.

The brokerage firm retains their positive view on JLR and expects the company to sustain its growth momentum driven by Evoque and new product launches (Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Jaguar XF Sportbrake and AWD and smaller engine variants of XF and XJ models).

Angel Broking maintains an 'Accumulate' rating on the stock with an SOTP based target price of Rs 326.