Indian markets underperforming compared to US markets this year

NEW DELHI: An important feature of the market performance this year is India’s underperformance relative to the US, says V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

While S&P 500 is up 17.6 per cent YTD, Nifty is up only 6.3 per cent YTD. Relatively high valuations in India are constraining a strong rally, he said.

Of late, the poor monsoon this year, till now, is also emerging as a major worry, he added.

In the near-term market may remain steady on favourable global cues. The US consumer index indicates that the US economy is slowing down. If the payrolls data expected this Friday confirms this trend, the Fed will not resort to another rate hike soon.

This assessment has led to decline in US bond yields and the dollar index, which, in turn, has improved equity market sentiments. Declining dollar is favourable for gold. Capital goods is a strong segment in the market now. A matter of concern is the poor quality of stocks participating in the mid-and small-cap rally, he added.

BSE Sensex is up 351 points at 65,427 points. Jio Financial is up 5 per cent, Tata Steel is up more than 2 per cent.