Even as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a slew of measures to boost the sagging economy, stock markets haven’t recovered on expected lines, a veteran investor said. A lot more stronger reaction from the stock markets was expected after the government’s announcement of stimulus last Friday, Shankar Sharma of First Global told ET Now in an interview. The domestic equity benchmark BSE Sensex rallied over 662 points in opening session on Monday after the government rolled back the enhanced surcharge on foreign portfolio investors, and unveiled a slew of measures to boost the economy. The financial crisis is greater than ever before and the market recovery will be short lived, the market veteran also said.
Even as the weakening stock market conditions forced the government to take action, the sops announced will not aid long-term recovery, he added. Shankar Sharma also said that if he was the Finance Minister of the country, he would devalue the currency sharply and give shock therapy to the comatose market situation. “If we see 2-3 months of strong uptrend, can look to buy into markets. Will not buy into the decline at the current levels,” said Shankar Sharma.
Foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth a net of Rs 1,737.20 crore on Friday, while domestic institutional investors purchased shares worth Rs 1,548.49 crore, provisional data showed.
Meanwhile, another market veteran Rakesh Jhunjhunwala told ET Now in a separate interview that the steps taken will revive the economy. However, the stock market veteran noted that the reversal in investor sentiment is not an event, it is a process. “But I believe the bottoming out process will start. There is a buying opportunity in the market. The pessimism has been excessively high. If you buy now, you may get something cheap,” Rakesh Jhunjhunwala said.
