PSBs under pressure; PNB, Syndicate, Allahabad Bank, OBC hit 52-week low

Shares of public sector banks (PSBs) were under pressure, falling upto 12% in early morning trade of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) after most these banks reported weak set of numbers for the quarter ended March 2018 (Q4FY18).
Total nine PSBs- Allahabad Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Corporation Bank, Dena Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Punjab & Sindh Bank, Punjab Nation Bank (PNB), Syndicate Bank and United Bank of India - were hit their respective 52-week lows on the NSE in intra-day trade on Wednesday.

At 09:26 am; Nifty PSU Bank index, the largest loser among sectoral indices, was down 2% as compared to 0.44% decline in the Nifty 50 index. The PSU Bank index hit an intra-day low of 2,756, trading close to its 52-week low of 2,691 touched on March 23, 2018 in intra-day deal.

PNB has tanked 12% to Rs 75.55, extending its previous day’s 4% decline, after the state-owned bank posted record losses at Rs 134 billion in Q4FY18 which was way higher than the Rs 26-27 billion analysts had estimated. Moreover, for the first time, PNB posted Rs 4.5 billion of operating losses. The stock hit its lowest level since June 3, 2016.

Thus far, 10 PSBs announced their Q4FY18 results, have reported a combined standalone net loss of Rs 292 billion as compared to Rs 16.17 billion recorded in the same quarter last fiscal. These banks had aggregate net loss of Rs 57.53 billion in December 2017 quarter.