ICICI Bank is presently trading at Rs 444.80 up by 4.05 points or 0.92% from its earlier closing of Rs 440.75 on the BSE.

The stock opened in the red at Rs 420 and went on to touch a high of Rs 448 with a low of Rs 404.60. So far 20,78,971 shares were traded on the BSE.

The BSE Bankex sector stock touched a 52 week high of Rs 1465 on January 14, 2008 and a 52 week low of Rs 282.15 on October 27, 2008.

The BSE Bankex index is presently trading at 5,400.33 up by 3.62% from its previous closing.

India’s largest private sector banking entity ICICI Bank may reduce rates across the board in the New Year. The bank had earlier said that it would review the situation due to easing of monetary policy by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and rate reductions in all important ratios by the apex bank.

The bank may go for around 50-75 basis points cut, which will be affected across the board meaning all kinds of loans including auto and home loans will get more affordable. The bank is under pressure to slash rates after many of the major players in the market reduced rates following RBI’s softening of stance on monetary policy.

Union Bank of India was first to respond to changing monetary policy scenario in country and reduce prime lending rate by 75 bps. Later on, ICICI’s arch rival, second largest private bank HDFC Bank too announced a 50 bps cut in rates in two tranches of 25 bps each.