IT, pharma, agri pop up on MF radars as market dives

Given the current environment, stock picking across sectors will be the strategy going ahead, says IDBI Mutual Fund Chief Executive Debashish Mallick

With equities market in a turmoil on concerns about more capital control measures, fund managers are of the view that stock picking in sectors that have sound export prospects and less regulatory interventions will be the right strategy to go ahead.

 

"Given the current environment, stock picking across sectors will be the strategy going ahead. Companies with sound export prospects like information technology, pharma, along with companies with overseas subsidiaries, will be on our radar," IDBI Mutual Fund Chief Executive Debashish Mallick told PTI here.

 

He said given the good monsoons, companies working in the agriculture space are also likely to do well.

 

"There is nothing wrong in agriculture sector. Monsoons have been very good so far. I think, agriculture will continue to do well along with sectors which are dependent on rural consumption," Mallick said.

 

On Friday, the benchmark Sensex crashed 769 points or close to 4% while rupee plunged to an all-time low by breaching the psychological mark of 62 to dollar amid fears that government may move to a capital control regime to curb forex volatility and narrow the current account gap.

 

This had the 10-year benchmark bonds yields soaring to a record 8.85% on Friday.

 

On this, an official from another mutual fund house said companies with less dependence on domestic market along with less regulatory exposure will be the picks for fund managers. 

 

"In the immediate future, sectors which rely less on domestic markets and have less regulatory interface will be the picks. Companies in sectors like IT, pharma along with telecom are likely to do good," ING Investment Management Executive Director & Chief Investment Officer Ramanathan K said.

 

However, industry officials also pointed out that FIIs are not pulling out of the market as is being widely believed and the stocks with high FII holding will not pose much risk as far as downturn is concerned.

 

"It is not that FIIs are pulling out of the stock market. They are decently positive. Rather domestic investors are pulling out of the equities," Ramanathan added.