Currently, the performances on Dalal Street are buoyant. This has caused benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty 50 to outrun major global equity markets. Both Sensex and Nifty 50 have touched new highs in trading up till last month, so much so, that some sectors and companies are trading at a premium to historical averages. 

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In April 2018, Nifty bounced back strongly and returned 6.2% which is highest monthly gain in 24 months. The benchmark slipped by  4.9% in February and 3.6% in March. 

As for Sensex, the index has grown by 7% in April month, which is way higher compared to global markets. Globally, UK (+6%), Japan (+5%), Korea (+3%), Russia (+2%) and Brazil (+1%) were the key global markets to close in the green in local currency terms. On the other hand, Indonesia (-3%), China (-3%) and Taiwan (-2%) were among the worst performers.

Not only this, India’s share in the world market cap is at 2.8% (up 10bp YoY). Over the last 12 months, world market cap has increased by 13.2% (USD9.5t), while India’s market cap is up 16.5%.

Motilal Oswal said, “After a bout of volatility in previous two months (rising bond yields, potential trade war concerns), global markets have settled down. In India, continued robust domestic flows, improvement in high-frequency data and healthy start to 4QFY18 earnings season has calmed nerves amidst FII selling, currency depreciation (down 2.2% in April and 4.2% CYTD’18) and rising crude prices.”

Year-to-date in 2018, Nifty was up 2%; Technology (+20%), NBFC (+8%), Consumer (+6%), Pvt Banks (+3%) and Capital Goods (+2%) were the only positive performers. Telecom (-24%), PSU Banks (-16%), Oil & Gas (-11%), Cement (-7%) and Real Estate (-7%) were the laggards in CY18 YTD.

According to Motilal, a total of 42 stocks close higher on Nifty index. 

In case of 2018 year-to-date performance, Tech Mahindra (+33%), TCS (+31%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (+20%), HCL Tech (+18%) and M&M (+16%) were the top performers. HPCL (-27%), BPCL (-25%), Bharti Airtel (-23%), Tata Motors (-21%) and SBI (-20%) were the worst performers.

Midcaps have struggled over the last few months, resulting in underperformance versus large-caps. Over the last 12 months, midcaps have delivered 12% returns, as against 15% by the Nifty. However, over the last five years, midcaps have outperformed the Nifty by 79%. 

Going forward, Motilal Oswal said, “We continue to prefer large-caps over midcaps, given the sharp valuation premium of midcaps. Our recent model portfolio changes in the 4QFY18 Strategy report highlights our preference for quality with earnings recovery and overarching preference for domestic growth stories.”