Is Nio Rally Over For Now?
Shares of Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio Inc. (NYSE: NIO) declined more than 4% in the regular trading session on Thursday. What Happened: The decline in Nios shares comes after three straight days of gains. The shares had risen above the $50 mark on Tuesday for the first time since early March amid bullish sentiment in the electric vehicle sector. Nios shares closed 4.3% lower in Thursdays regular trading session at $50.90. The loss of momentum in Nio stock was attributed to concerns over the resurgance of COVID-19 in the Asia-Pacific region, with a focus on the Delta variant. Nio stock closed above the 30 days and 200 days simple moving averages on Thursday, indicating overall bullish sentiments, as per Trading View data. A relative strength index (RSI) of 65.91 is also on the higher side, indicating a potential uptrend. Nio reported a 116.1% year-over-year surge in June deliveries on Tuesday, with the monthly increase representing a record for the company. In addition, Citi has recently increased its price target on the Nio stock to $72 from $58.30 and maintained a buy rating on the stock. Nio is also seeing high interest from retail investors. As of late Thursday, the company was the eleventh most-discussed stock on Reddits r/WallStreetBets forum, data from Quiver Quantitative showed. The WSB forum has 10.6 million members and is known for short squeezes. Nio, seen as a rival to Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA), has pioneered the concept of battery-as-a-service that would allow users to rent a battery instead of purchasing one. Nio has significantly accelerated the pace of building swap stations in the past two weeks. The EV maker aims to have 500 battery swap stations in operation in China by the end of this year. In addition, Nio has recently expanded into Norway and is on track to sell its ES8 SUV in the European nation. The ET7, Nios fourth mass-produced model, is scheduled for commercial launch in the first quarter of 2022. Click here to check out Benzinga's EV Hub for the latest electric vehicles news. Photo: Courtesy of Nio