2019 has been an year full of surprises. Even though Sensex touched all-time highs, the returns didn’t seem to translate for the investors. Main reason for this anomaly was the fact that very few companies participated in the upward journey of Sensex. Few big stocks like Reliance, Bharti Airtel, HUL etc. gave good and handsome returns. On the other hand, majority of the listed stock universe gave below-average to negative returns.

Despite slowdown in the economy and low GDP growth numbers, Sensex 30 continued to rally in the month of Nov. A deeper look however, tells a different story. The market rally was limited to only a few large stocks like Reliance Industries, HDFC etc. Broader markets did not participate in the rally. As a result most of the mutual funds (which are more broad-based) did not give good returns. This kind of divergence is happening since last 2 years. As a result of this divergence, select large caps look severely over-valued. However, most of the medium and smaller sized companies look under-valued.

Followed by roller coaster rides of Indian equity markets over the last few months,  the Sensex touched its lifetime record high in the previous month. The Indian Markets which hit the record highs in June had a sharp pullback in July after the Union budget announcement of imposing higher surcharges on foreign portfolio investors. But the Sensex gained 11% since September 20th after the announcement of a cut in the corporate tax rate. 

The Indian markets had a rollercoaster ride last month. The markets headed lower during the first half of the month. It staged a sharp recovery on announcement of lowering of the corporate taxes. This could be one of the major turning points of the market in the days to come.

FinAtoZ Take

Recent corporate tax cuts will have a multiplier effect on the economy in the long run. This is a good time to increase your long term asset allocation in equities. Talk to your financial advisor for the same.

As we have been communicating during last few months, the Indian markets continued to trade weak in the month of Aug. Few economic indicators like Automotive sales and GDP growth numbers point to domestic slowdown in the Indian economy. Some of the global events like deepening of USA-China trade war did not help either. Logical question that would come to anyone's mind is that how deep is this economic slowdown? Is this as  bad as the recession of 2008? How long will it take to come out of this slowdown?

FinAtoZ Take

The economic slow down/recession is a normal phenomenon and part of the economic cycle. Government has introduced many policies and taken measures to revive the economy. These policies may or may not work in the short run. However, in the medium to long run, markets will certainly come back and reward the patient investors.  

As per Benjamin Graham, the intelligent investor should lookout for opportunities to buy low and sell high due to price-value discrepancies that arise from economic depressions and market crashes. We also believe in the same. The intelligent investor should not worry about the short term volatility. If possible, when the market goes down, he should invest more in equities which benefits him in the long term. Else, he should continue his periodic investments like SIPs etc and re-balance his portfolio to a slightly higher tilt towards equity with the help of his financial advisor.