State Bank of India shares continue to gain on improved asset quality

Shares of State Bank of India continued to rally on Friday, jumping over 11 per cent after the company's asset quality improved substantially in December quarter.

The stock zoomed 10.69 per cent to close at Rs 393.05 on BSE. During the day, it jumped 14.99 per cent to Rs 408.35 -- its 52-week high.

On NSE, it gained 11.23 per cent to settle at Rs 395.

Shares of State Bank of India (SBI) had gained over 6 per cent on Thursday.

In the last two trading sessions, the company's market valuation has soared Rs 51,048.86 crore to Rs 3,50,781.86 crore on BSE.

SBI on Thursday had posted a nearly 7 per cent fall in its standalone net profit at Rs 5,196.22 crore for the third quarter ended December.

The bank had posted a net profit of Rs 5,583.36 crore in the October-December period of the previous fiscal.

Total income (standalone) also fell marginally to Rs 75,980.65 crore during Q3FY21, as against Rs 76,797.91 crore in the same period of 2019-20, SBI said in a regulatory filing.

On a consolidated basis, the bank posted a 5.8 per cent fall in net profit at Rs 6,402.16 crore during the quarter under review, as against Rs 6,797.25 crore in the year-ago period.

The bank's asset quality improved substantially as the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) fell to 4.77 per cent of the gross advances as of December 31, 2020, from 6.94 per cent in the corresponding period a year ago.

In value terms, the gross NPAs or bad loans stood at Rs 1,17,244.23 crore, as against Rs 1,59,661.19 crore.

Likewise, the net NPAs were down 1.23 per cent at Rs 29,031.72 crore, as against 2.65 per cent (at Rs 58,248.61 crore).