New Delhi, June 9
An SBI Mutual Fund report on Monday changed the Indian equities' outlook to neutral from an underweight stance in 2024, as the domestic benchmark indices continue to perform well despite global uncertainties.
From a contrarian viewpoint, this shift to neutral from underweight equities represents a healthier market outlook and better long-term entry points for investors, "though we are not yet ready to recommend overweight positions", said the SBI ‘Market Outlook’ report.
The Indian equities gained in May despite tariff uncertainties. Nifty and Sensex increased 1.7 per cent and 1.5 per cent (on-month), respectively. FPIs turned net buyers even as overall market breadth weakened.
The Q4 FY25 corporate earnings scorecard was modest (single-digit profit growth), but largely in line with expectations, which has helped to arrest incremental earnings, downgrades in May, according to the report.
Even as metals, healthcare, capital goods, PSU banks, and chemicals have recorded a healthy profit growth, weakness in private banks results, coupled with a drag from Oil and Gas (ex OMCs), put pressure on profitability.