Stock market analysts have suggested investors to ‘sell’ ICICI Bank stock with a target of Rs 397 as the stock is experiencing heavy selling pressure at higher levels.

According to them, interested investors can sell the stock with a strict stop loss of Rs 418.
 
Today (Jan 30), the stock opened at Rs 401, as against its last closure at Rs 408.40 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Thursday (Jan 29). Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 37.03 and 10.82 respectively. The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 1300 and a low of Rs 282.15 on BSE.

Analysts also said that if the stock fell below Rs 380, it may see more weakness. So the investors must sell ICICI Bank stock today. After selling the stock, the interested investors can buy the stock again on dips for medium or long term prospective to reap gains.

For the quarter ended December 31, 2008, ICICI Bank has recorded a considerable growth of 39.29% in consolidated net profit, which stood at Rs 15,597.6 million as compared to Rs 11,198.2 million in the corresponding quarter the previous year.

The total income of the bank witnessed an increase of 8.11% from Rs 156,533.1 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 to Rs 169,227.3 million for the quarter under review.

The bank announced a marginal increase in standalone net profit for the third quarter. During the quarter, the profit of the bank rose 3.41% to Rs 12,721.50 million from Rs 12,302.10 million in the same quarter previous year.

ICICI Bank’s CEO & MD Mr. K V Kamath, o n Jan 19, said that the bank’s interest rates are likely to come down in next six weeks.
 
In order to aid SMEs, ICICI bank will cut interest rates on business loans and wholesale credit. Moreover, it will start lending at lower cost with the lowering of borrowing cost.

On Jan 5, the bank signed a deal with BSNL Cell One to permit latter’s clients to make their payments via bank’s website.

ICICI bank, on Jan 01, declared that it registered 50% growth in Canada, crossing $6 billion mark in assets and hit a customer base of 250,000 during the last year (2008).

ICICI Bank, on December 31, slashed its floating reference rate (FRR) for home loans to 13.75% per annum.

Moreover, the bank also slashed its benchmark advance rate (I-BAR) by 0.50% to 16.75% as against the present 17.25%. Alongside it has also announced a reduction in interest rates for various tenors of retail fixed deposits by 0.50% to 0.75%.