Beaten-down financials in focus; RBL, Bandhan, IndusInd Bank gain up to 20%

On Tuesday, Singapore-based investment banking firm UBS Principal Capital Asia bought 5.38 million shares representing a 0.78% stake of IndusInd Bank at an average price of Rs 367 on the NSE.

Shares of beaten down financial companies including banks, microfinance institutions and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) rallied up to 20 per cent on Wednesday on the back of heavy volumes.

Bandhan Bank, RBL Bank, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Muthoot Finance, Shriram Transport Finance Company, Equitas Holdings and Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company were up in the range of 10 per cent to 20 per cent on the BSE.

Manappuram Finance, Max Financial Services, Can Fin Homes, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services, L&T Finance Holdings, Ujjivan Financial Services, LIC Housing Finance and ICICI Bank were up in the range of 7 per cent and 10 per cent. The S&P BSE Finance index was up 4.7 per cent, as compared to a 3.5 per cent rise in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex at 10:29 am.

Among individual stocks, IndusInd Bank traded 15 per cent higher at Rs 442, surging 41 per cent in the past two trading days, after foreign portfolio investor (FPI) bought shares of the private sector lender via open market.

On Tuesday, Singapore-based investment banking firm UBS Principal Capital Asia bought 5.38 million shares, representing 0.78 per cent stake of IndusInd Bank at an average price of Rs 367, the NSE bulk deal data shows. The name of sellers were not ascertained immediately.

Today, till 10:36 am; a combined 29.4 million shares changed hands on the NSE and BSE, the exchange data shows.

On March 24, 2020, the stock of IndusInd Bank hit a multi-year low of Rs 236 in the intra-day trade. It had corrected 87 per cent from its 52-week high level of Rs 1,822 touched on April 18, 2019.

Last week, Moody's Investors Service downgraded the rating outlook on four Indian financial institutions. For ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, rating outlook has been downgraded to negative from stable and revised IDBI Bank’s outlook to stable from positive. Moody’s has also placed IndusInd Bank’s rating under review for a downgrade.

“The disruptions to economic activity from the coronavirus outbreak will exacerbate a slowdown in India’s economic growth. Banks’ asset quality will deteriorate across the corporate, small and medium enterprises and retail segments, leading to pressure on profitability and capital,” Moody’s said in its rating action rationale on April 3.