PNB Leads PSU Bank Surge After Strong Q2

Markets opened flat today and then slipped. The Sensex opened at 74,849.30 (up 120 points) and the Nifty at 23,150.85 (up about 5 points), against Friday’s closes of 74,729.27 and 23,146.15. By around 10 AM the Sensex was down about 240 points at 74,489.11 and the Nifty down about 90 points at 23,056.15. Private banks and IT weighed on the market, while PSU banks rallied.

is the standout stock. It rose as much as 8% after Q2 profit of about ₹5,500 crore came in ahead of estimates (one source puts it at ₹5,532 crore, up 12.8% year on year). Revenue rose 5.4% to about ₹38,185 crore. Management’s outlook was upbeat. CEO Ashok Chandra projected retail loan growth of 17-18% and MSME credit growth of 21% in Q3 FY27, helped by festive-season demand. The whole PSU bank group rallied. Nifty PSU Bank was the top sector, up 2-3% in early trade. Canara Bank (a strong quarter, with core pre-provision profit up 13.3%), Punjab & Sind Bank, Union Bank, Bank of India, Indian Bank and SBI gained 2-4%. Private banks were the drag. Axis Bank fell about 4% after its Q2 results and HDFC Bank about 1.5%. Infosys, Bajaj Finserv and Hindustan Unilever were also among the early losers, and Nifty Private Bank fell nearly 2%. Breadth was weak. On the NSE, 2,036 stocks were declining against 975 advancing, and most sectoral indices were lower. A positive sign on flows: Foreign investors turned net buyers after a long selling streak, according to reports.