- The month of August saw us in the midst of the earnings season. We saw robust financial performance in 1QFY18-19 with around two thirds of the Nifty50 companies reporting earnings that were in line with or above consensus estimates.
- Although Indian corporates have been gaining traction, the global macro backdrop for India is becoming a bit cloudy on the back of rising oil prices and Rupee depreciation.
- India continues to be amongst the best performing markets globally in USD terms despite macro concerns. While the large cap indices attained lifetime highs in August, the market breadth also improved with midcaps indices rising during the month.
Outlook
- In terms of the sectoral outlook, with the ongoing Rupee depreciation, export-oriented sectors like IT should benefit. We continue to like Consumer Discretionary space with sectors such as Autos, Small Appliances and White Goods.
- We also believe that for private sector banks the increase in market share will be a secular trend over the next decade.
- We also like rural oriented NBFCs as many of them are leading from the front to provide higher access of credit in areas where traditional banking platforms have not been able to penetrate.
Source: ABSLAMC Research, Mint, Bloomberg
Portfolio Action
- Aditya Birla Sun Life Equity Fund(An open ended equity scheme investing across large cap, mid cap, small cap stocks):
We continue to prefer private sector banks and NBFCs in the financial space the fund maintains its cautious stance on the markets and continues to look for value in order to deploy cash.
- Aditya Birla Sun Life Equity Advantage Fund (An open ended equity scheme investing in both large cap and mid cap stocks):
The fund got repositioned (erstwhile Aditya Birla Sun Life Advantage Fund) under new category – Large & Midcap, post recent categorisation exercise. As recovery is expected in the capex cycle we increased our exposure to corporate banks.
- Aditya Birla Sun Life Balanced Advantage Fund (An open ended Dynamic Asset Allocation fund):
We have reduced Nifty futures exposure a bit and the remaining is in stock futures (arbitrage) which would remove the chance of Nifty hedge dragging the fund performance going forward. Current portfolio, on equity side is more large cap biased and is expected to benefit us, at least in relative sense.
All the data mentioned above is as on 31st August 2018
The Scheme(s) may or may not have any present or future positions in these sectors
Mutual Fund investments are subject to market risks, read all scheme related documents carefully.