Monday's Asia ADR Recap
04/28/08 - 06:39 PM EDT
Stockpickr Staff
Update from 5:30 p.m. EDT
Indian stocks broke a three-day winning streak Monday as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) policy meeting set for Tuesday. Dealers said that positive global cues couldn't offset market speculation of a 25-basis-point rate hike. Investor sentiment is quickly deteriorating as many market players expect wild volatility to move into Indian equity markets once the RBI announces its decision. "Volumes were low and there was little participation from mutual funds and other domestic investors," said Gaurang Shah of Geojit Financial Services. The Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark 30-stock Sensex Index fell 110 points, or 0.6%, to 17,015. India's second-largest bank, Icici Bank (IBN Quote - Cramer on IBN - Stock Picks), on Saturday reported a 39% rise in fourth-quarter net profits due to higher fee income. The company said net profit for the fourth quarter was 11.5 billion rupees ($287 million), vs. 8.25 billion rupees from the previous year and well above Wall Street estimates of 9.07 billion rupees. Total income for the fourth quarter came in at 103.91 billion rupees, vs. 84.95 billion rupees a year ago. Retail loan growth fell sharply to 3% in the fiscal year from 30% a year ago. Writedowns for overseas assets in the fiscal year also totaled $170 million. "The quarterly numbers beat expectations but profit, loan growth will be under pressure at least for the next two quarters," said Vaibhav Agarwal, banking analyst at Angel Broking. American depositary shares of Icici, which trade on the NYSE, fell 3.8% to $45.38. Elsewhere in the Indian banking sector, HDFC Bank (HDB Quote - Cramer on HDB - Stock Picks) fell 2.8% to $111.59 as investors dumped financial shares on concerns that rapidly declining loan growth at Icici Bank will spillover to hurt the entire Indian banking complex.
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