Axis Bank is up in the green despite posting a loss and this has surprised many on the Street. The Bank’s stock price rose 5.5% to Rs.522 and it is now hovering at Rs.517 levels.

With bad loans piling up, Axis Bank reported the first ever loss of Rs.2189 crore for Q4FY18 v/s profit of Rs.1225 crore (YoY). This loss was mainly on account of bank’s accelerated recognition of bad loans, which led to a huge rise in provisions.

Bank’s provision for bad loans rose by a massive 155% (QoQ) to Rs.7179 crore v/s Rs.2811 crore.

Following these numbers, most brokerage houses, especially foreign funds have retained or put out a buy call as they feel that this was basically a ‘clean-up’ quarter and with all provided for earnings could start looking up ahead.