Bank stocks rally as RBI steps lift mood, trigger short covering
On Tuesday, bank stocks rocketed upwards following strategic interventions by the Reserve Bank of India aimed at shielding foreign currency loans. This move has revitalized investor confidence, propelling Bank Nifty to a remarkable close above 55,...
Bank stocks gained as much as 5% on Tuesday after the raft of measures introduced by RBI to help hedge foreign currency borrowings stoked investor optimism and led to traders covering some of their bearish bets.
Bank Nifty rose 2.1% to 55,194.50; and closed above 55,000 levels after two weeks while benchmark Nifty moved 0.5% higher on Tuesday. All 14 constituents of Bank Nifty moved higher on Tuesday. .
"The measures by RBI are likely to drive a healthy deposit base for banks and lead to cheaper cost of funds since the hedging cost on FCNRB is borne by the Central Bank while the hedging costs on ECB's is subsidised," said Dharmesh Kant, head of research, Cholamandalam Securities.
Last week, the RBI announced measures to boost foreign currency inflows and to support the rupee. The Central Bank offered concessional dollar-rupee swap facility to absorb the entire forex hedging costs for three-to-five-year Foreign Currency Non-Resident (FCNR[B]) deposits until October 16, 2026. In addition, it offered a concessional swap facility for eligible External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs) raised by public sector entities, fixing the hedging cost at 1.5% per annum.
This policy allows Indian banks to access low-cost global capital and alleviate domestic deposit crunches without bearing currency risk, said analysts. "The sudden fundamental clarity triggered massive technical short covering, catching derivative traders by surprise and sparking a rapid short squeeze since the Put-Call Ratio (PCR) had dropped into an oversold zone below 0.80 ahead of the news," said Nishchal Jain, Quant Researcher, Share. Market by Phone Pe.
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The high-volume breakout past 55,100 and decisive price action, shifts the market regime from "sell on rallies" to "buy on dips", establishing 55,000 as a strong psychological support base- forming a high-conviction bullish view, he said.
