Jefferies’ Global Head of Equity Strategy, Christopher Wood, increased weighting on State Bank of India and Adani Ports by one percentage point and two percentage points in his India long-only portfolio, according to Jefferies’ latest edition of ‘Greed & Fear’. Shares of SBI traded 0.43 per cent lower at Rs 639.95 at around 2.45 pm (IST) on January 5. Adani Ports was up 2.02 per cent at Rs 1,146.05 at around the same time.
On the other hand, the global investor replaced the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation with an investment in Coal India. In addition to this, investment in Bajaj Finance has been removed from the portfolio.
While retaining his bullish view on India's growth story, Wood said, “The portfolio remains 50 per cent invested in India, with 14 per cent exposure to China and another 10 per cent allocated to Taiwan and Korean technology. There is also an 11 per cent allocation to energy, resources and gold. The portfolio remains primarily geared to the long-term domestic demand story in India.”
Data shared by Jefferies showed that the long-only portfolio for India, which launched on July 1 2021, rose by 14.2 per cent in US dollar terms last quarter on a total-return basis, compared with a 12 per cent gain in the MSCI India benchmark. It also rose by 44.4 per cent last year compared with a 21.3 per cent gain in the benchmark. As a result, the portfolio is now outperforming since inception, rising by 50.9 per cent as at the end of 2023 compared with a 26.8 per cent increase in the MSCI India Index and a 27.8 per cent gain in the Nifty.
India long-only equity portfolio holds 18 stocks at present. Some of the players in the portfolio are ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, SBI, AU Small Finance Bank, SBI Life Insurance, REC, Reliance Industries, Coal India, JSW Energy, Godrej Properties, Century Textiles, DLF, Macrotech Developers, Larsen & Toubro, Adani Ports, Thermax and Zomato.
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