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With the Reserve Bank of India leaving key interest rates untouched other than trimming the Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) by a percentage point to 23 per cent from 24 per cent, the bank stocks drifted lower in the exchanges today.
The biggest losers were SBI, BoB and PNB among the PSU banks and ICICI Bank and Axis Bank among the private sector banks. But the shares of HDFC Bank,Canara Bank, United Bank of India and Bank of India suffered lesser damage.
But the investors’ mood was one of disappointment, though the RBI’s stance on relaxing interest rates was reasonably evident, particularly after the apex bank came out with its document on macroeconomic and monetary developments yesterday.
SBI again slipped below the psychologically important Rs 2,000 level to dip to Rs 1,972.55, a loss of Rs 58.90. BoB, which bounced back yesterday along with many PSU bank stocks, shed Rs 23.90 to Rs 648.50.
PNB was another major loser, slipping to Rs 717, a fall of Rs 13.60. Canara Bank which shed Rs 4.80 at Rs 353.10, Bank of India which lost Rs 5.25 at Rs 291.10 and UBI which was down by Rs 3.35 at Rs 166.50, relatively were able to limit the damage.
Leading private sector banks came out with a mixed fare. HDFC Bank was down by Rs 5.85 at Rs 581.40. However, ICICI Bank shed Rs 11.20 at Rs 953.30, Axis Bank slipped to Rs 1025.50, a loss of Rs 14.85 and IndusInd Bank was trading at Rs 327.90, a loss of Rs 6.15.
Among the 12 Bank Nifty stocks, only YES Bank was in the green, up marginally by 50 paise at Rs 360.60.
The Bank Nifty was down by about 130 points.
Mr Motilal Oswal, CMD, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, responding to the RBI decision, said that the “policy inaction continues to send negative signals’’ with hopes of near-term easing nearly ruled out.
He said “RBI has made a rather big bet on sacrificing growth in the hope of near-term stability’’, somewhat ignoring the stability risk that a lower growth can possibly endanger.
He felt that growth risks were only compounding further with investment cycle getting no help from either fiscal or monetary side and warned that “coupled with policy paralysis, this might endanger a rating slippage’’.
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