Federal Bank, Ashok Leyland, PNC Infra, Praj Ind are among the top picks of the brokerage

In its latest report, Axis Securities said the basket, however, reported a flat return (-0.3%) in a highly volatile March 23, which saw mixed performance across sectoral, market cap and style indices, indicating an underlying indicates change. in market condition. Nonetheless, the basket has given an astonishing 149% return since its inception (May 20), which is much higher than the 87% return given by the Nifty 50 in the same period.

For the month of March in particular, Axis Securities noted that the market witnessed a mixed trend with notable volatility in both the directions. The market remained under pressure in the first fortnight of the month due to banking challenges in the US and European markets. Due to this, profit-booking was visible in high-beta stocks and most of the sectors were in the red.

However, in the second fortnight of March, it said that “some banking challenges have reversed and sentiments have improved with buying in beaten down stocks. A ‘risk on’ sentiment was visible in the last one week, with buying continuing . regions.”

Nevertheless, the brokerage said that over the past one year, all indices have been moving in line with divergence in the small cap universe.

Going forward, Axis Securities noted, “We believe mid caps are well positioned for growth, trending in line with large caps over the past one year. However, in the smallcap space, we believe it Down is going to stay. -up play and earnings visibility play in the near term before we see a broad-based recovery.”