Axis Bank jumps after RBI removes FII stock purchase curbs

Axis Bank jumped 7.90% to Rs 865.40 at 9:30 IST on BSE after the central bank withdrew restrictions placed on the purchase of the bank's shares by foreign investors.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) made the announcement after market hours on Wednesday, 4 September 2013.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 477.98 points, or 2.57%, to 19,045.53

On BSE, 3.42 lakh shares were traded in the counter compared with average volume of 2.82 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 888 and a low of Rs 853.90 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 764 on Wednesday, 4 September 2013. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 1,549 on 20 May 2013.

The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 4 September 2013, sliding 27.35% compared with the Sensex's 3.11% decline. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one quarter, falling 42.58% as against Sensex's 5% fall.

The large-cap bank has an equity capital of Rs 469.08 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday, 4 September 2013, lifted restrictions placed on foreign institutional investors (FIIs) buying shares in Axis Bank as the overall foreign share holding fell below the prescribed limit of 49%.

Foreign share holding in Axis Bank under the portfolio investment scheme have gone below the prescribed threshold limit stipulated under the extant FDI Policy, the RBI said in a statement.

Hence, the restrictions placed on the purchase of shares of Axis Bank are withdrawn with immediate effect, the central bank said.

Total foreign holding in Axis Bank was 48.96% as at 30 June 2013, of which 40.70% was held by FIIs.

Shares of Axis Bank were excluded from the MSCI's standard and large cap indices with effect from 2 September 2013. MSCI Barra is a leading provider of benchmark indices and risk management analytics products. Many global mutual funds are linked with MSCI indices.

Axis Bank's net profit jumped 22.14% to Rs 1408.93 crore on 15.87% increase in total income to Rs 9059.12 crore in Q1 June 2013 over Q1 June 2012.

Axis Bank is the third largest private sector bank in India. It has a large footprint of 1947 domestic branches (including extension counters) and 11,245 ATMs spread across the country as on 31 March 2013. The bank also has overseas offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Colombo, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

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