ICICI Bank shares hit near 23-month low
The stock touched a low of Rs216 a share, a level last seen on 6 March 2014, and fell as much as 7.3%, its steepest fall since 24 August
Mumbai: Shares of ICICI Bank Ltd, India’s largest private sector bank by assets, on Friday hit a near 23-month low, after the bank reported lower-than-estimated earnings due to a sharp rise in bad loans and provisions.
The stock touched a low of ₹ 216 a share, a level last seen on 6 March 2014, and fell as much as 7.3%, its steepest fall since 24 August.
Net profit for the December quarter was ₹ 3,018.13 crore, an increase of just 4.46% from ₹ 2,889.04 crore in the year-ago period. A Bloomberg poll of 30 analysts had forecast a net profit of ₹ 3,060 crore for the quarter.
Non-performing assets (NPA) surged by ₹ 5,291 crore at a gross level during the quarter to ₹ 21,149 crore as of 31 December, from ₹ 15,857 crore in the September quarter. Provisions rose three-fold in the same period.
As a percentage of total loans, gross NPAs surged to 4.72%, compared with 3.77% in the September quarter and 3.04% in the December quarter.
Brokerage firm Reliance Securities Ltd has cut its rating on the stock to “sell" from “buy" and also cut its target price to ₹ 210 a share. Quant Capital Pvt. Ltd also reduced the stock to “accumulate" versus “buy" and also cut its target price to ₹ 249 a share, according to Bloomberg.
Shares of ICICI bank closed 1.22% lower at ₹ 230.10 apiece.
Other banks also fell. Bank of Baroda shed 3.31%, SBI 2.91%, Punjab National Bank 0.27%, Syndicate Bank fell 3.84%, Andhra Bank 0.86%, and Oriental Bank Of Commerce fell 0.27%.
BSE Bankex rose 0.70% to 17,603.89 points, while India’s benchmark Sensex index fell 1.64% to 24,870.69 points.
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