Banking and finance stocks, including Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank, have been the clear leaders of the 2019 rally among the top 15 FII-heavy stocks.
From being one of the worst performers of 2019 among the 20 mosttracked global markets, India is now in the top quartile in terms of yearto-date reurns, thanks to the end of uncertainties over the election outcome. The benchmark Nifty’s year-to-date gain is now 10.2 per cent in dollar value, out of which close to 6 per cent has come in the last 10 days. The rupee has remained flat against the dollar since the start of the year. The US dollar closed at 69.4 against the rupee on Monday.
Banking and finance stocks, including Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank, have been the clear leaders of the 2019 rally among the top 15 FII-heavy stocks, up 30 per cent, 26 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively, in dollar terms. As compared to these, heavyweights, including Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank, have relatively underperformed. Heavyweight consumer stocks Maruti Suzuki and Hindustan Unilever are the only two counters that have given negative returns in the current year.
Riding the strong rally in equities over the past few days, India has emerged as the second bestperforming market, after Brazil, for the past one year period. The rupee, however, has depreciated by 3 per cent during this period.
