India's AU Small Finance Bank falls on NIM contraction, valuation concerns

AU Small Finance Bank

24/07/2023 07:54

** Shares of AU Small Finance Bank  AUFI.NS  fall as much as
5.32%, steepest intraday pct drop since Oct. 20, 2022
    ** Co reports 40 bps contraction in net interest margin
(NIM) on a sequential basis in June quarter
    ** Kotak Institutional Equities retains "sell", citing
pressure on operating performance, elevated slippages and
weakness in asset quality
    ** Also flags that valuations remain expensive
    ** Motilal Oswal Financial Services sees deterioration in
asset quality as a negative
    ** Strong loan growth in June quarter has been offset by
contraction in NIM, says ICICI Securities; downgrades stock to
"hold' from "buy"
    ** Trading volume is 2.53 mln shares as of 12:14 p.m. IST,
1.7x the 30-day avg - Refinitiv data
    ** Stock up 12.61% in 2023 so far compared to Nifty Bank
index  .NSEBANK , which is up 6.79%

 (Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru)
 ((bharath.rajeswaran@thomsonreuters.com; +91 9769003463))