Well, it's the last day of October 2022 (Happy Halloween). As such, it's always a good time to look back at the month that (almost) was and see how some of the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO)'s most prominent shares fared.
So today. let's check out the National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) share price.
NAB shares have been a standout ASX 200 performer over 2022 thus far. This ASX big four bank is currently trading at $32.38 a share at the time of writing, up 1.17% for the day thus far. That puts NAB up a very pleasing 10.12% year to date in 2022. Not bad at all when the ASX 200 remains down by around 10% over the same period.
But how has NAB fared over this tenth month of the year?
Well, NAB shares ended September at a price of $28.81. That puts the bank at a very pleasing gain of 12.36% as it currently stands, well over the ASX 200's present gain of 5.5% for October.
Image source: Getty Images
NAB shares clock a spectacular month
But even that robust gain doesn't put NAB at the top of the ASX banking table. Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) shares have outstripped even NAB's rises. CBA shares have recorded a gain of 15.5% over October thus far. Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) shares have done even better again. This bank has recorded a pleasing 16.86% rise.
As it turns out, the only major ASX bank NAB can claim to have beaten this month is Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ). ANZ shares have lagged behind the others with a gain of 'only' 11.78%.
So why did NAB shares have such a strong month over October? Well, there was no major news out of the bank.
However, as is obvious from the performance of all ASX bank shares over the month, investors are currently very excited over this sector's prospects going forward. This is arguably due to rising interest rates.
Rising rates enable banks like NAB to increase their net interest margins thanks to widening spreads between the interest they charge on loans and the interest they pay out on deposits.
We saw this codified in Bank of Queensland Ltd (ASX: BOA)'s full-year results delivered earlier this month. Upon the release of these results, which indeed showed rising net interest margins, all ASX bank shares got a major boost. This is probably the most significant reason why NAB, along with its peers, had such a strong month.
At the current NAB share price, this ASX bank share has a market capitalisation of $101.87 billion, with a dividend yield of 4.33%.
