Value and earnings revisions styles still seem appealing. Turned modestly bearish on India since December 2016, Darby says.
Darby remains overweight EMs and are mildly bullish on India.
China's stock markets bucked broad cautiousness in Asian equities with major indices up between 2 and 4 percent, while European trading got off to a subdued start as mining and energy stocks pulled the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 equity index down 0.2 percent.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was down 0.7 percent in early trading as euro zone bond yields rose, especially on the bloc's periphery, and the euro consolidated a week of hefty gains.
Asian and European stocks continued a two-day decline for equity markets worldwide with Europe's FTSEurofirst 300 down 0.8 percent and heading for its worst week of the year.
The possibility that Athens might not be able to meet payments to the International Monetary Fund - which could mean default and eventually an exit from the euro zone - has pushed up Greek bond yields but sparked few ripple effects globally.
Sean Darby of Jefferies believes that since Draghi‘s comments in November, there has been a greater probability placed on an announcement of sovereign bond QE at the forthcoming ECB meeting. Jefferies European economists expect that Draghi will hold off on such a step this month.
“Stocks to position for the results on positive side include India Cements, Crompton, YES Bank, Hero Motocorp and Strides Arcolab," says Rakesh Arora, Macquarie.
Neelkanth Mishra, Credit Suisse says consumption remains a secular growth story in India with years of catch up to even other emerging markets.
In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Sean Darby, chief global head of equity strategy at Jefferies spoke about his reading of the global economies and his outlook on India.
The benchmark VN Index, Southeast Asia's best performer this year, has risen 23 percent year-to-date, compared with a 6 percent decline in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index over the same period.
Jyotivardhan Jaipuria of Bank of America Merrill Lynch said they continued to focus on autos, banks and pharma stocks in their model portfolio.
Jyotivardhan Jaipuria of Bank of America Merrill Lynch feels global investors are overweight India now. However, India's stellar performance last year and the overweight positioning are some of the risks to the market, he adds.
If the World Bank is correct, 2012 will see the second slowest year of global economic growth in a decade, at a level consistent with a world recession that, like the 2008/2009 financial crisis, would not spare Asia.
In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Sean Darby, equity strategist at Jeffries, spoke about his views on the global markets and his outlook.
We are Overweight India as we believe negative earnings momentum is priced in. We have revised our March 2012 Sensex and Nifty targets to 21,000 & 6,500 respectively.
We expect GDP growth to decelerate to 7.7% in FY12 from 8.5% in FY11. Govt spending and consumption growth may also slowdown.
With higher rates, increasing oil prices and the impact on capex, we continue to expect GDP growth to slow further in FY12, says Tushar Poddar of Goldman Sachs.
A correction in commodities would bring flows to Asia through investors exiting commodity funds & from those switching away from commodity-related emerging markets like Russia."
We still believe volatility in multiples will be higher than in earnings as funds flow into India fluctuate around changing expectations for medium-term GDP growth
Asian equities continue to be increasingly correlated to the greenback's depreciation, says Sean Darby of Nomura.
Equities continue to grind higher, but market breadth around the region suggests performance has become very narrow in India and Korea, says Sean Darby of Nomura.
The Sensex has corrected 17% since November on account of domestic concerns and an attractive US market performance, says Nandan Chakraborty of Enam.
In the short-term markets may find it difficult to make headway, despite improving global economic data, says Sean Darby of Nomura.