Tag: chris wood

Markets have found it tough to cling to higher ground. CHRISTOPHER WOOD, global head of equity strategy at Jefferies advises that investors should look to sell stocks on a rally in the short term. What will see the markets rally is a sudden end to the Russia – Ukraine conflict as it will ease supply pressure across commodities, he tells. He also suggested that the bet for a sustained equity market rally before the 2022 end is a possible change in the US Fed's language.

Christopher Wood, global head of equity strategy at Jefferies in his latest note to investors, GREED & fear suggested that India remains Asia's best long-term structural story in terms of equities and investors should buy their favourite stocks on a decline. However, given the macro headwinds – the need to tighten monetary policy combined with the continuing risk, if not probability, of a much higher oil price, are the key reasons Wood has been in no hurry to add to the 'overweight' position he has in Indian equities in his Asia ex-Japan portfolio. Read more

Indian stock markets are likely to underperform their global peers in case of a global risk-off triggered by a taper scare, believes Christopher Wood, global head of equity strategy at Jefferies. Yet, he remains structurally positive and has hiked allocation to Indian equities by two percentage points (2 ppt). Currently, 31 percent of Wood's Asia ex-Japan thematic equity portfolio for long-only absolute-return investors is in India and includes marquee names such as Reliance Industries (RIL), HDFC, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, ICICI Lombard General Insurance, Godrej Properties, and ICICI Bank. The major risk to Indian equities, according to him, is the arrival of a new Covid variant, which he says the country shares with the rest of the world. The other risk, according to him, is a change in the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) dovish policy.

In his Asia ex-Japan long-only portfolio, Christopher Wood, global head of equity strategy at Jefferies has launched India long-only equity portfolio with 16 stocks, which include marquee stocks such as ICICI Bank, HDFC, Bajaj Finance, Reliance Industries (RIL), ONGC, Maruti Suzuki India, Tata Steel, and Jubilant FoodWorks. India always had a significant representation in GREED & fear’s long-only Asia ex-Japan portfolio, launched nearly 19 years ago at the end of the third quarter of 2002 (Q3-2002). The move comes despite the Indian equities nearing all-time high levels and rich valuations. Read more

Christopher Wood, global head of equity strategy at Jefferies has reiterated his bullish view on Indian equities due to a steady fall in Covid cases coupled with a sharp economic recovery in India. In December 2020, Wood raised exposure to Indian equities twice in his Asia ex-Japan long-only portfolio. “With Covid cases in India now 88 percent off their peak amid growing hopes of herd immunity, India looks right now Asia’s best post-Covid recovery story,” Wood wrote in his weekly note to investors, GREED & fear. For the stock market to have a real nasty unwind at the global level rather than just a bull market correction, Wood believes there needs to be a catalyst in the form of an economic downturn or a material tightening in the US Federal Reserve's (US Fed) policy. He ruled out the possibility of either of these catalysts materialising. Read more

Christopher Wood, global head of equity strategy at Jefferies has maintained a bullish view on Indian equities for 2021 in spite of the runaway market rally since March 2020. "GREED & fear still likes the Indian stock market this year. The key reason is the scale of the cyclical recovery in the coming fiscal year as a result of the dramatic collapse in growth in the second quarter of last calendar year when the real gross domestic product (GDP) declined by 23.9 percent YoY," Wood wrote in his recent weekly note to investors, GREED & fear. "The economic downturn is not going to happen in GREED & fear’s view since the vaccine rollout implies the opposite and the resulting unleashing of pent-up demand, which will be given further momentum by the sheer scale of the Covid-19 stimulus announced last week by President Joe Biden," Wood wrote. Read more

Christopher Wood, Global Head of Equity Strategy at Jefferies, has nudged to increase exposure to Indian equities in his ‘GREED and Fear’ portfolio yet again due to a downward-sloping Covid-19 graph and an upward-sloping Nifty50 chart in India. Wood has increased the weightage of Indian equities by 150 basis points to 14 percent in his Asia Pacific ex-Japan relative-return portfolio, by trimming exposure to Chinese and Pakistani equity markets Last month, Wood had raised concerns over the sharply expanding valuations of the Indian equity market, but he sounded confident that valuations will become relatively cheaper as corporate earnings growth catch up in 2021.

The sharp up move from the March 2020 low in the absence of a meaningful recovery in corporate earnings has made Christopher Wood, global head of equity strategy at Jefferies sound caution against the expensive valuation of the Indian equity market. Yet, he has increased exposure to Indian equities in his Asia Pacific ex-Japan relative-return portfolio by one percentage point. Wood had recently hiked allocation to Indian equities in October 2020. “The Indian stock market is not cheap with the market trading at 21.6x 12-month forward consensus earnings. But the positive point is that the multiple should have a tendency to decline going forward. Jefferies expects over 30 percent earnings growth for the fiscal year 2022 (FY22) and 13.2 percent real GDP growth,” Wood wrote in his latest weekly note to investors, GREED & fear.