ICICI Bank Shares Hit Near 2-Month High Post Q2 Results

Shares of India's second largest private sector bank gained as much as 8 percent in trade on Monday as brokerages increase their target price for the stock. ICICI Bank shares hit Rs 342.40 a piece, its near two-month high, after reporting promising quarterly performance on Friday (post market hours).

For the quarter ending September 2018, the lender has reported a profit of Rs 909 crore, which is lower than the previous quarter, in fact, it was a 56 percent drop from the same period last year, but, there was an improvement in its asset quality and an increase in interest income.

Its provision increased by 330 basis points to 69.4 percent and net interest margin was at 3.33 percent compared with 3.24 percent last quarter. In the second quarter of 2018-19, its bad loans were worth Rs 3,117 crore compared to Rs 4,036 crore between April and June.

ICICI bank's loan book for the period under review was at a 11-quarter high after a 13 percent growth from last year. On a year-on-year basis, its retail loans increased by 20 percent to make for 57 percent of its total loan portfolio.

Most brokerage firms have a "buy" rating on the shares of ICICI Bank.