SHARE PRICES AND MARKET ANALYSIS

A snapshot of motorcycle and ATV industry share performance across key manufacturers and major global markets at the trading week closure on Friday 17 November 2023. BDN financial editor Roger Willis reports.

Wall Street equities rallied once again on news that US headline inflation had fallen faster than expected in October, now down to just 3.2%. The prospect of any further interest rate rises has therefore been almost entirely dismissed. Trading eventually steadied after three consecutive days of gains.

Market indices were unanimously positive at close of play on Friday. The blue-chip S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average made respective 2.2% and 1.9% weekly advances. And NASDAQ’s tech-heavy Composite added 2.4%.

But many speculative investors were buying the previous week’s dip suffered by a lot of S&P MidCap 400 stocks, including vulnerable powersports-related players, thereby pushing the index 4% up. Indeed, some of them — such as Harley-Davidson — have been going up and down like the proverbial stripper’s knickers on a regular basis, ever since publication of Q3 results.

European stocks rallied too, as investors became increasingly confident that central banks had ended interest rate hikes, after annualised eurozone inflation had fallen to just 2.9% in October.

Key market indices across Europe finished the week with ample illustrations of this brighter mood. In Germany, Frankfurt’s Xetra Dax put on 4.5% and Italian punters pushed the FTSE MIB in Milan 3.5% higher. The Wiener Börse ATX in Austria rose by 2.2%. All four of our motorcycle-related listings evidenced this with solid gains.

With BoJ central banker intervention to support the yen now assured, Japanese stock traders relaxed and the Nikkei 225 stock index spanning Tokyo and Osaka climbed by a healthy 3.1%. However, analysts were clearly still mulling signs of future pitfalls in quarterly corporate parental reports from Japan’s big-four motorcycle brands, so their investment appeal remained inconsistent.

Post-Diwali, “auspicious” occurences are popular. And although investor activity after the festival was subdued, as indicated by only a 1.4% rise for Mumbai’s S&P BSE Sensex stock index, three of the five listed Indian motorcycle manufacturers had something to boast about — and were duly rewarded.

Hero MotoCorp was finally acknowledged for announcing its entry into the European market at EICMA in Milan. TVS Motor followed with a similar revelation, broadcast through various international business media streams. Best of all, Royal Enfield parent Eicher released an all-time record Q2 net profit thanks to its burgeoning retro bike sales.

US President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a face-to-face meeting to say nice things about each other and calm down their recent bout of economic and geopolitical bellicosity. Whether this will have any meaningful outcome is anybody’s guess.

Overall, Chinese equities markets were difficult to judge in their response. Indices were mixed. Shanghai’s all-share SSE Composite was on the upbeat side, rising by 0.5%. But the blue-chip CSI 300 covering big players listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen went in the opposite direction, 0.5% down. At least investors in quoted Chinese motorcycle manufacturers put their money on peace and prosperity — all ten increased in value during the past week.