Karur Vysya Bank emerged as the top performer with shares surging more than 11% by midday following exceptional June-quarter results. According to reports from The Financial Express, the private sector lender reported net profit rising 45% year-on-year to ₹755.70 crore, while interest income increased 19% to ₹3,049.42 crore. The bank's net interest income climbed 31% to ₹1,423 crore with net interest margin improving to 4.34% from 3.86% a year earlier. Provisions for bad loans declined 23.5% to ₹90.30 crore, supporting overall earnings performance despite gross non-performing assets edging up marginally to 0.74% from 0.66% year ago.
Yes Securities has maintained its Buy rating on Karur Vysya Bank with a revised target price of ₹375, up from previous levels. The brokerage highlighted the bank's strong net interest margin of 4.26% in Q1 FY27, representing a 40 basis points year-on-year improvement. The management maintained its FY27 NIM guidance in the range of 3.7-3.8% and expects NIM to remain above 4% in Q2. Yes Securities noted that the margin improvement excludes the one-off interest income from income-tax refund, which contributed 8 bps during the quarter. Current market price stands at ₹340.10, indicating potential upside to the target price.
The bank demonstrated robust operational performance with advances standing at ₹1,04,090 crore, up 17% year-on-year. According to The Hindu BusinessLine, loan growth was healthy in absolute terms despite being slightly lower than system growth. The management stated that the system has moved early and moved into corporate lending, an area they had relatively de-focused. Gross NPA additions amounted to ₹138 crore for Q1FY27, translating to an annualised slippage ratio of 0.54% for the quarter, significantly lower than ₹187 crore in Q4FY26. Provisions were ₹90 crore, down 23.6%, translating to a calculated annualised credit cost of 36 bps. Notably, there was no one-time prudential provision of ₹163 crore towards geopolitical headwinds in Q1FY27, as seen in Q4-FY26.
Pharma stocks traded firmly higher by midday with the Nifty Pharma index advancing around 1.8%. According to The Financial Express, Torrent Pharmaceuticals gained about 3%, Mankind Pharma rose nearly 2%, and Cipla added around 2%. The sector outperformed the broader market as buying interest returned to the defensive sector despite weakness in the broader market. Emcure Pharmaceuticals traded in the green, up around 2% after announcing that its co-marketed semaglutide brand, Poviztra, will now be available for treating non-cirrhotic metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) following approval from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation.
The domestic equity market remained under pressure by midday on July 21 as weakness in heavyweight financial stocks kept benchmark indices in negative territory despite strong buying in select midcap counters following their June-quarter earnings. According to The Financial Express, the Nifty 50 was hovering around the 24,170 level, while the Sensex was hovering near the 77,440 mark. The market weakness was primarily attributed to pressure on private banking stocks, elevated crude oil prices and geopolitical concerns, with investors preferring companies with relatively stable earnings prospects in the defensive sectors. Sectoral indices traded mixed, with Nifty PSU Bank emerging as the top performer, rising 0.88%, while Nifty Pharma was the biggest laggard, falling 0.31%.
UltraTech Cement shares gained nearly 2% after the country's largest cement producer reported healthy June-quarter earnings with consolidated net profit increasing 17% year-on-year to ₹2,599 crore and revenue from operations rising 16% to ₹24,648 crore. EBITDA advanced 14% to ₹5,016 crore. Paytm stock traded marginally lower after giving up early gains despite the company reporting revenue growth of 28% year-on-year to ₹2,448 crore and EBITDA rising 182% to ₹203 crore. Goldman Sachs noted the company delivered revenue growth ahead of expectations and EBITDA performance that exceeded estimates by around 20%.
