Finance stocks in focus; Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, SBI rally up to 6%

Shares of financials including banks, non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) and housing finance companies (HFCs) are in focus as they rallied up to 6 per cent on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in Thursday’s intra-day trade, extending gains of their past two sessions on value buying.

Axis Bank, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company, Bajaj Finserv, State Bank of India (SBI) and Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services were up 5 per cent to 6 per cent. Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) were up in the range of 3 per cent to 4 per cent.

At 11:53 am; Nifty Bank, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Private Bank indices were up 4 per cent, as compared to a 2.3 per cent rise in the Nifty50 index. In the past three trading days, financial sector indices have gained 7 per cent, as compared to a 5 per cent rise in the benchmark index.

Prior to that, in the past one month, financials had underperformed the market by falling 13 per cent, as against a 8 per cent decline recorded by the Nifty50 index, on the back of heavy foreign portfolio investor (FPIs) selling.

Despite a strong Q3, banking stocks have seen a 10-20 per cent correction amid macro risk fears (business disruption/higher inflation) due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and frantic FPI selling. However, the banks’ direct corporate exposure to these countries…