Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has raised its holding in two banks ? Yes Bank and State Bank of India (SBI) ? over the past week.
On Friday, LIC disclosed it has increased its stake in Yes Bank by 2.33% to 7.38% by acquiring 84.1 lakh shares. Yes Bank shares on Thursday had closed at R232.35. Yes Bank?s share this year has swung from a 52-week high of Rs 547.15 on May 20 to a 52-week low of Rs 216.10 on BSE. LIC increased its shares carrying voting rights to 26,592,423 from 18,182,991 in Yes Bank.
On Friday, the private bank?s stock closed up 4.7% at Rs 243.25 on BSE.
On Thursday, LIC had increased shareholding in SBI by 2.86% to 13.26% by acquiring 19.57 lakh share from the open market. The public sector bank?s stocks have moved between its 52-week high of R2,550 on January 10, 2013, and a 52-week low of R1,452.90 on Aug 28, 2013. SBI stock closed up 1.7% at R1,514.40 on Friday on BSE. LIC has also stepped up its buying in recent months to take advantage of lower stock prices, confirmed a senior official of the state-owned insurer.
