Axis Bank jumps over 5% on strong earnings

Mumbai: Axis Bank Ltd shares rose as much as 5.3% on Thursday after the bank reported better-than-expected earnings. This is the third consecutive session of gains for the stock.

In intra-day trading, it touched a high of Rs.582—the last highest level was seen on 19 March. The stock has gained 11% in the last three sessions and 15% year-to-date.

Also, the Axis Bank board has approved raising foreign institutional investment (FII) limit to 74% from 62% earlier. The board also approved depositary receipts (DRs) of up to 142 million, with conversion of five equity shares to one DR.

Axis Bank had on Wednesday said that net profit rose 18.4% for the March quarter due to higher net interest income and other income, despite a rise in provisions for non-performing assets.

Net profit in the March quarter rose 18.36% to Rs.2,180.59 crore from Rs.1,842.32 crore in the same period last year. The bank’s profit was higher than the Rs.2,150 crore forecasted by 22 analysts polled by Bloomberg.

Net interest income (NII), the difference between interest earned on loans and that paid on deposits, increased 20.01% to Rs.3,799.2 crore from Rs.3,165.8 crore last year.

At 10.37am, Axis Bank shares were trading at Rs.577.55 on BSE, up 4.5% from their previous close, while the benchmark Sensex Index fell 0.88% to 26,986.58 points.

Axis Bank