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(Reuters) - Bajaj Auto's shares tumbled 12% on Thursday after the Indian motorcycle maker said it anticipated weak festive season sales, a warning that slammed other automakers and also pulled down the broader market.
India's third-biggest motorcycle maker by sales said festive sales of motorcycles had grown only about 1%-2% so far this month, falling short of market expectations of 5%-6%.
This indicated that the season, which runs from October to November and when Indians generally make big-ticket purchases, would see sales growth of just 3%-5%, well below industry expectations of at least 8%.
Sales of vehicles, including motorcycles, generally peak during the festive period.
The warning by Bajaj, the first automaker to report its results, weighed on the broader market, which fell 0.7%, as the forecast all but confirmed that high inflation, especially in food prices, forced consumers to limit expensive purchases in the roughly month-long season that started in early October.
It also sharply contrasts the overall 13.4% growth in domestic motorcycle sales from April to September and Bajaj's own 9% rise during that period.
"Contrary to our expectations, the festive season has started on a weaker note and we do see a downside risk to the domestic two-wheeler industry growth assumptions if demand trends do not see a pick-up during the Diwali festival," Kotak Institutional Equities said in a note.
The brokerage expects two-wheeler makers to report festive season sales growth in the low-double digit range.
The day's fall wiped out 383.02 billion rupees ($4.56 billion) from Bajaj Auto's market cap, which is also India's top two-wheeler exporter.
Its warning dragged down its bigger two-wheeler rivals Hero MotoCorp and TVS Motor by about 4% each. The Nifty Auto index tumbled 3%.
While Bajaj Auto's quarterly profit growth and margins largely met expectations, analysts said the stock's current valuation appeared to have priced in all positives.
($1 = 83.9930 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)