Federal Bank, Ashok Leyland, PNC Infra, Praj Ind among top picks of brokerage

In its latest report, Axis Securities said, the basket, however, reported a flattish return (-0.3%) in a highly volatile March 23 which witnessed a rather mixed performance across the sectoral, market cap, and style indices, indicating an underlying change in the market positioning. Nonetheless, the basket has delivered an astounding return of 149% since its inception (May 20) which stands significantly higher than the 87% returns delivered by NIFTY 50 over the same period.

Specifically for March month, Axis Securities note said, that the market witnessed a mixed trend with notable volatility in both directions. For the first half of the month, the market was under pressure due to the banking challenges in the US and European markets. On account of this, profit booking was visible in high-beta stocks and the majority of the sectors were in the red.

However, in the second half of March, it said that “some of the banking challenges got reversed and sentiments revived with the buying seen in the beaten-down stocks. ‘Risk on’ sentiments were visible in the last one week with buying continued across the sectors.”

Nevertheless, the brokerage stated that in the last one year, all indices have been moving in tandem albeit with divergence continuing in the Small Cap universe.

Going ahead, Axis Securities note said, “We believe Mid Caps are in a sweet spot of growth, which is moving in line with the Large Caps in the last one year. However, in SmallCap space, we believe it’s going to be a bottom-up play and the earning visibility play in the near term before we witness a broad-based recovery.”