Karnataka Bank gains as assets quality improves sequentially

The stock moved higher by 10% to Rs 123, bouncing back 12% from intra-day low of Rs 110 on BSE.

Karnataka Bank has moved higher by 10% to Rs 123, bouncing back 12% from intra-day low on BSE after the bank’s assets quality improved in the January-March 2016 quarter (Q4) on sequential basis.

The bank’s gross non-performing assets (NPAs) stood at 3.44% of gross advances, as on March 31, 2016 compared with 3.56% in the December 2015 quarter. The net NPAs stood at 2.35% in the March quarter against 2.41% in the preceding quarter.

The net profit of the bank however declined 20% to Rs 107 crore in March quarter, due to higher provisioning for bad loans. The bank had profit of Rs 134 crore in March 2015 quarter and Rs 97 crore in December 2015 quarter.

Net interest income (interest earned minus interest expended) grew by 24% at Rs 360 crore on a Y-o-Y basis. The bank made provisioning of Rs 113 crore for bad loans against negative Rs 4 crore in previous year quarter.

At 15:23 PM, the stock was up 8% at Rs 121 on the BSE compared to 0.35% fall in the S&P BSE Sensex. The trading volumes on the counter jumped an over 10-fold with a combined 11.16 million shares changed hands on the BSE and NSE.