ICICI Bank gets the advantage of first mover for rate cuts

ICICI Bank is currently trading at Rs 409, up by 10.20 points or 2.56% from its previous closing of Rs 398.80 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs 407 and touched a high of Rs 412.80 with a low of Rs 402.55.So far 4,17,839 shares were traded on the BSE.

The BSE group ‘A’ Bankex stock of face value Rs 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs 960.90 on May 5, 2008 and a 52 week low of Rs 252.75 on March 6, 2009.

The BSE Bankex index is currently trading at 5,419.40, up by 1.93% from its previous closing.

The scrip price has witnessed a correction of 7.82% since last week and 26.66% since last month.

ICICI Bank, the largest private sector bank of the country, has responded positively to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) measure of reducing the benchmark repo and reverse repo rates by 25 basis points (bps).

The bank has slashed its prime lending rate (PLR) by 50 bps to 16.25% effective April 22, 2009 and has also decided to reduce the deposit rates across various maturities by 25 to 50 bps, which will be applicable from April 24, 2009. Apart from this, ICICI Bank has also reduced floating rates by 50 bps to 13.25%.

Meanwhile, other banks like SBI, HDFC Bank, and UCO Bank are also set to follow ICICI Bank’s move.