Expect global growth to accelerate in 2014: JP Morgan

Here are experts’ equity calls for the day on how the market is expected to trade:

Bharat Iyer of JP Morgan: The dependence on global liquidity and quantitative easing tapering linked volatility will likely continue over Q1CY14. The result of the national election in May would play an important role in H2CY (January-June 2014) growth revival, particularly for the investment cycle and also for the performance of Indian equities. Our top picks have a cyclical bias. ICICI Bank and DLF are domestic cyclical expected to benefit from a revival in growth and modest valuations. We also expect global growth to accelerate into the year ahead which should benefit companies like Tata Motors, Tata Steel and HCL Technologies. Cyclical recovery makes us more cautious on expensive defensives, HUL and Colgate.

Neelkanth Mishra of Credit Suisse: We expect the divergence between the investment cycle and middle-income consumption on one hand and low-end consumption on the other to continue. Growth in the informal economy though should continue to drive wage growth for the poor. Indices have already started to reflect this divergence. Our model portfolio stays defensive with Reliance Industries, Godrej Consumer, HCL Technologies and ITC as top longs and Larsen and Toubro, Tata Steel and SBI as top shorts.