Indian markets could underperform in near-term: BNP Paribas

Here are experts equity calls for the day on how the markets are expected to trade:

Manishi Raychaudhuri, BNP Paribas Securities: We have cut the year-end Sensex target to 20,500 from 23,600. The Indian markets could underperform in the near-term as uncertainties such as sticky inflation, extent of demand destruction, future government policies and global growth concerns persist. We stay defensive with overweight IT, telecom and neutral on bank and autos.

Nandan Chakraborty, Enam: India could rally this year only when investors see interest rates peaking off & on a decisive fall in crude prices. In that case, banking stocks would be the first to rally. Such a rally is also likely to take allocation away from the super-defensive sectors such as FMCG.