Punjab National Bank Q2 profit up 8 pct; bad loans dip on quarter

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Punjab National Bank, India's fourth-biggest state lender by assets, missed forecasts with an 8 percent rise in quarterly profit on Friday, but cheered investors with a quarter-on-quarter improvement in its bad loans. Net profit rose to 6.2 billion rupees ($94.2 million) for its second quarter to Sept 30, from 5.75 billion rupees a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected a net profit of 8.98 billion rupees, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters. Gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans fell slightly to 6.36 percent from 6.47 percent in the previous three months, though higher than 5.65 percent a year earlier. Shares in the bank climbed on the numbers, trading up 4.2 percent by around 0700 GMT. ($1 = 65.8400 rupees) (Reporting by Clara Ferreira Marques; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)