Reorient Portfolios To New Sectoral Leaders, Says Atul Suri

Investors should shift focus from old to new sector leaders as the money flows into healthcare and discretionary consumption during the new coronavirus pandemic, according to Atul Suri of Marathon Trends Advisory.

“It is certain that the leadership will change in the post-Covid world for, say, the next six months to one year till the vaccine comes,” Suri, chief executive officer at the portfolio management firm, said. “For me, what matters is how I reorient the portfolio.”

India's equity benchmarks tumbled more than a third, following the worst global selloff since 2008. But Indian markets recovered over 14 percent in April, the highest for the month since 2009, after a coordinated action by central banks across the world. BSE Healthcare jumped 26 percent, followed by auto at 24 percent and oil & gas that rose 20 percent.

“The focus is most importantly to be in sectors that leads or recovers faster as and when the markets start rallying.” Suri said. For the last four to five years, banking and finance stocks have outperformed. But looking at the relative strength during pullbacks, you will notice that even when the markets recover a lot of the previous leaders do not participate and it's important to be aligned with the new trend.”

Suri said he is seeing money moving to healthcare and discretionary consumption.

Watch the full interview here: