Jefferies’ Chris Wood launches India long-only equity portfolio

Mumbai: Jefferies’ Global Head of Equity Strategy Christopher Wood has launched an India long-only equity portfolio of 16 stocks which includes blue-chip stocks such as HDFC, ICICI Bank, , , Bajaj Finance and Maruti Suzuki (India).

Other stocks that are part of this India long-only portfolio include Tata Steel, Jubilant FoodWorks, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, ICICI Lombard General Insurance,

, Godrej Properties, Century Textiles, TVS Motor and Container Corporation of India. About 40% of the weightage has been given to financials, 20% for energy and 17% for real estate. Wood said it is not a perfect time to start an Indian portfolio since the Sensex is near an all-time high, though for that matter, so are many other stock markets.

Wood said he remains convinced that India is at the start of a new housing cycle after a seven-year downturn.

The portfolio will be domestic demand-focused but also have an exposure to energy stocks to hedge the risk of higher oil price on Indian financials and other interest rate-sensitive sectors.