Market Movers: Rupee’s sudden surge hurts IT stocks; an EV play has a day in the sun

For information technology companies, the rise in rupee is bad news as it will further crimp their margins that are already under pressure from paying employees through the nose. Traditionally, an appreciating rupee affects both the revenues as well as the margins of IT firms as they earn their buck in US dollars.

While the extent of the damage may only be known by the end of the month depending on how much the domestic currency appreciates, CFOs of IT companies will already be scratching their heads on how to make up for the margins they may lose in the September quarter.

The Nifty IT fittingly was the worst sectoral loser on the National Stock Exchange ending 1.3 per cent lower.

An EV play that’s not Tata

Some Tata Group companies have been ahead of the curve in projecting themselves as proxy to the impending electric vehicle boom. Be it Tata Motors or Tata Elxsi or Tata Chemicals.

In the backdrop, Minda Corporation is steadily digging its heels to make a mark as a proxy for the EV revolution. The company over the past year has been telling investors of the potential it has as an auto ancillary company to deliver growth by supplying parts to EV makers.

Earlier today, the company announced that it has through its subsidiary acquired 26 per cent in e-vehicle charging solutions startup EVQPoint Solutions. Minda Corp will be the exclusive technology and manufacturing partner for battery chargers and EV supply equipment for the startup.

No wonder that investors in anticipation of such a crucial deal drove the company’s stock higher by 4.3 per cent in today’s session.

Tata Motors impresses

It is difficult to find automobile companies that impress investors these days. After all this isn’t 2016-2018 anymore and auto is no longer the flavor of the day.

However, Tata Motors’ better-than-expected sales numbers for August helped the stock rally nearly 3 per cent on a day when the Nifty Auto index closed merely 0.1 per cent higher.

The strong showing of the passenger vehicles business of the company last month would have impressed investors the most as the volumes jumped 48 per cent year-on-year. Further, the electric vehicle segment made its presence felt as sales grew 69 per cent in August over the year-ago period as units sold crossed the 1,000 mark.