Prefer SBI from public sector banking space: Sharekhan

Sharekhan's top picks

Sharekhan’s Top Picks basket ended 2014 with a bang by handsomely outperforming the benchmark indices, the Nifty and the Sensex, once again in December. Since the last revision in early December, the Top Picks folio has appreciated by 2.2% as compared with a decline of 3.2% in the Nifty and that of 3.8% in the Sensex during the same period.

During the last month, the performance of our select basket of stocks was boosted by a strong appreciation of close to 26.6% in the stock price of PTC India Financial Services, which was added to the folio in the last month. The sustained buying interest in Gateway Distriparks and Relaxo Footwear also aided the Top Picks folio to do better than the CNX Mid-cap Index as well as the Nifty and the Sensex. Thus, the Top Picks folio not only outperformed in the trending upmove in the market during the October-November period but also sustained the momentum in December to build on the gains of the previous months despite volatility in the month.

We are making a lone change in the folio this month. State Bank of India (SBI) is replacing Axis Bank in which we are booking profits to increase our exposure to the public sector banks. The softening of the bond yield would boost the Q3FY2015 earnings of the public sector banks including SBI, which is our preferred pick in the public sector banking space.

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