Tapering may happen in October or November: Prateek Agarwal, ASK Investment Manager

In a chat with ET Now, Prateek Agarwal, CIO, ASK Investment Manager, shares his views on the global and domestic events, and their impact on the market. Excerpts:

ET Now: Do you think October is going to be challenging for Indian markets and global markets?

Prateek Agarwal: Yes. Look at the levels of the index before the last quarter numbers-that level was similar to the levels that we have today.

This quarter numbers are going to be as bad in terms of YoY growth. Yes, at that point, there was this adjustment in expectation of QE taper. While taper has not happened in September, there are chances that it may happen in October or November.

The problem is that more delayed the taper happens, the gradient becomes larger. Instead of a $10 billion which was expected last time, it may be a higher number whenever it starts. Given that earnings would not be good and visibility on earnings has not improved, we believe that index could give some way.

We also believe earnings could hold up much better and hence, that part of the market can do significantly better in October.