BFSI among beaten down sector in the current market turmoil; up to 15% fall in HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI

From banks to fintechs, the financial sector has been the biggest loser in the month gone by, dragging the overall market in negative. The impact is primarily on the back of geopolitical tensions. The ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict has forced the commodity prices to escalate, including skyrocketing prices in crude. 

Kotak Institutional Equities report suggests that the BFSI (Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance) sector has taken a major beating with Nifty Bank Index falling in 11 out of 19 trading sessions over the previous month. The decline has been 5 per cent month-on-month. 

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Similarly, the public sector banks, small finance banks and regional private banks, which drove the rally in January, have underperformed in February, the report said. 

Performance of the frontline private banks was comparatively down around 4-6 per cent MoM, the reported quoted. In this, HDFC Bank, index heavyweight has slipped over 10 per cent, and ICICI Bank down almost 15 per cent in February, 

Similarly, PSU banks, excluding Bank of Baroda saw a sharper decline, the list adds State Bank of India too (down almost 12 per cent). While among the non-banks, fintechs and insurers also led the decline in the previous month. 

On a 3-month basis, BFSI sub-indices have shown a mixed performance, the brokerage report said, while PSU banks and capital market entities have outperformed the Bank Nifty quite meaningfully on a 12-month horizon, it added.  

“BFSI stocks have held up well as the impact of the Omicron virus strain has been limited so far, while broader credit growth in the system seems to be picking up,” Kotak Institutional Equities said.  

The benchmark indices – Sensex and Nifty50 – in the previous month registered a negative growth of around 6 per cent, mainly due to geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine. This has forced the commodity prices, including crude oil and metals to surge.  

Despite fall in February, these cyclical bank stocks may show a rally post the geopolitical tensions ease up. In this regard, Axis Securities see growth in private banks such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI, Canara Bank amid improving overall asset quality.