
ETMarkets PMS Talk: India's growth + global devaluation = next bull market - Qode's FY26 outlook
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India's structural growth story combined with the looming threat of global currency devaluation could be the perfect recipe for the next big bull run in equities, says Rishabh Nahar, Partner and Fund Manager at Qode Advisors, in this edition of ETMarkets PMS Talk.In an exclusive interaction, Nahar shares how Qode's quant-driven strategies helped their Tactical and All Weather Funds outperform the BSE 500 TRI in April.With a strong emphasis on risk management , data-backed decision-making, and selective risk-taking, Qode's approach focuses on consistent outperformance, particularly during volatile or bearish phases.From managing downside through gold and puts, to identifying high-conviction growth stocks, Nahar explains why volatility isn't risk—and why India is uniquely positioned for long-term equity market gains as global macro headwinds continue to shift. Edited Excerpts –A) We specialise in risk management, and that played out well for us. We protect the portfolios with an element of gold as well as protection using puts. We were rewarded because of having these positions and exposure.The Qode All weather and Tactical portfolios are pure quant portfolios designed to outperform during bear markets. We have a strong risk management framework in place. Since last year, markets (especially mid- and small-caps) have been elevated, and we were in a risk-off mode.Only in the last few months have we taken some risk on these portfolios. All these decisions are not made subjectively. We have a pure data-driven approach and have done extensive testing with a deep understanding of markets.A) Our portfolios are designed to weather bad months or large amounts of volatility. The Qode All Weather, as the name suggests, is designed to see lower drawdowns and outperform during bad times.We did not make any tactical changes, since we are a quant fund our models are designed taking years of data that have seen situations like this in the past.A) With all weather and tactical, we try to maintain a low beta, but when markets are beaten down and businesses are available at attractive valuations, we are willing to take on risk. We are not afraid to take risk- when the situation is favourable. Our outperformance will come by protecting downside in bad years. To explain this, here is a simple example:The above table easily shows how drawdowns could affect your returns.A) With Qode Growth Fund and Qode Future Horizons, we are looking at buying businesses that are showing strong earnings momentum. In the Growth Fund, we hold a 30-stock portfolio with an average market cap of 8000 crores.These are fairly strong businesses that have shown great execution capabilities in the past. But due to the size of the businesses being smaller, the stock price sees more volatility.With Future Horizon, we are looking to hold 10-12 fundamentally strong businesses with immense growth potential. This is a more concentrated portfolio because we have a lot of conviction in our picks.We understand the business in depth and take a large position in each of them. Because of the larger position sizes, the volatility is higher, but we do not consider volatility as risk.A) Qode Growth Fund, Qode All Weather and Qode Tactical are pure quant funds. Businesses and ETFs are picked based on factors that we think lead to EPS growth.There are three pillars we work around: 1. What to buy (fundamentally strong businesses) 2. When to buy (Valuations) and 3. How much to buy (position sizing)All our quant models are built around this framework. All three strategies are built with a data-driven approach.Our fourth strategy, Qode Future Horizon – we are looking at a quantamental framework because there are lots of great businesses with scattered data or data that's not structured.We look to meet the management and understand the business by taking a deep dive individually in each business.A) Our macro view remains fixed at the growth story for India and Equity markets. With the US debt crisis coming closer, a large amount of US debt is maturing in the next four years. Money printing and devaluation will be a large factor for equities to do well.So, money printing/devaluation plus a strong position for India will fuel the next bull market . Having exposure to assets like equities/gold and real estate (mostly land) will be a key component for individuals to maintain/grow their wealth.A) We refrain from having such a short-term outlook because markets are a complex place, and in the short run, factors like demand/supply, war, and trade policies will have a larger impact on their movement. Even if we could model all these factors there is no significant upside for anyone to have a view on the markets for a quarter or two.A) We are sector/ theme agnostic. We look for fundamentally strong businesses that have a long runway for earnings growth and promoters that have excellent execution capabilities.We like to own owner-operated businesses with strong brand names and high ROCE's. Most of the businesses we own are completely debt-free and have had a strong earnings momentum.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times)
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Mint
3 days ago
- Mint
Gold prices today in your city: Check prices in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, New Delhi and Kolkata on June 5
Gold, silver prices in your city, June 5: Gold has jumped due to uncertainty over the US-China tariffs deal, geopolitical uncertainity in Europe (Russia-Ukraine war), and anticipation ahead of the US Fed rate decision. Overall, since January, gold has given 25 per cent returns, year-on-year (YoY), this number is 40 per cent. Further, it has also returned 15 per cent CAGR since 2001, and beaten inflation by more than 2-4 per cent since 1995, data shows. Meanwhile, Silver prices crossed the ₹ 1 lakh/kg mark as investors flocked to safe haven commodities to secure their portfolios. According to Rishabh Nahar, Partner and Fund Manager at Qode Advisors, maintining 5-10 per cent allocation in gold is adviced. 'This positioning serves as an effective hedge against inflation, negative real rates, and geopolitical uncertainty. We recommend adding to positions on meaningful pullbacks, as even a modest allocation can help dampen the volatility of an equity-heavy portfolio,' he added. Prices opened in the green at 7.20 am on June 5. The MCX gold index was at ₹ 96,806/10 gm, the official website showed. Meanwhile, MCX silver prices were at ₹ 1,01,412/kg, it showed. Further, 24-carat gold was priced at ₹ 97,940/10 gm, according to data on the Indian Bullion Association (IBA) at 7.20 am on June 5. Further, 22-carat gold was priced at ₹ 89,778/10 gms. And, silver prices today are at ₹ 1,01,710/kg (Silver 999 Fine), as per the IBA website. So, check here for prices of gold and silver in your city today on June 5 — Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai. Notably, for retail customers, jewellers may add making charges, taxes and GST to the bill, which could hike the final price for you. Gold bullion rates in Mumbai — ₹ 97,770/10 gm. MCX Gold rate in Mumbai — ₹ 96,806/10 gm. Silver bullion rate in Mumbai — ₹ 1,01,530/kg. MCX Silver 999 rate in Mumbai — ₹ 1,01,710/kg. Gold bullion rates in Chennai — ₹ 98,050/10 gm. MCX Gold rate in Chennai — ₹ 96,806/10 gm. Silver bullion rate in Chennai — ₹ 1,01,820/kg. MCX Silver 999 rate in Chennai — ₹ 1,01,710/kg. Gold bullion rates in Kolkata — ₹ 97,640/10 gm. MCX Gold rate in Kolkata — ₹ 96,806/10 gm. Silver bullion rate in Kolkata — ₹ 1,01,390/kg. MCX Silver 999 rate in Kolkata — ₹ 1,01,710/kg. Gold bullion rates in Hyderabad — ₹ 97,930/10 gm. MCX Gold rate in Hyderabad — ₹ 96,806/10 gm. Silver bullion rate in Hyderabad — ₹ 1,01,610/kg. MCX Silver 999 rate in Hyderabad — ₹ 1,01,710/kg. Gold bullion rates in Bengaluru — ₹ 97,850/10 gm. MCX Gold rate in Bengaluru — ₹ 96,806/10 gm. Silver bullion rate in Bengaluru — ₹ 1,01,530/kg. MCX Silver 999 rate in Bengaluru — ₹ 1,01,710/kg. Gold bullion rates in New Delhi — ₹ 97,600/10 gm. MCX Gold rate in New Delhi — ₹ 96,806/10 gm. Silver bullion rate in New Delhi — ₹ 1,01,270/kg. MCX Silver 999 rate in New Delhi — ₹ 1,01,710/kg. Disclaimer: The views and recommendations made above are those of individual analysts or broking companies, and not of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before making any investment decisions.


Mint
3 days ago
- Mint
Expert view: Market valuation looks stretched; maintain a 5–10% allocation to gold, says Rishabh Nahar of Qode Advisors
Expert view on markets: Rishabh Nahar, Partner and Fund Manager at Qode Advisors, is reducing the overall market exposure and shifting focus to select unique stock ideas where he still sees strong earnings momentum and low volatility, offering a good balance of risk and reward. In an interview with Mint, Nahar shares his views on market valuations, sectors to watch and strategy for gold. Here are edited excerpts of the interview: We are watching the post-Q1 rebound not just as a statistical uptick, but as confirmation of our momentum signals realigning after a brief drawdown. The 4 per cent YTD (year-to-date) gain in the Nifty 50 versus nearly 10 per cent in the S&P 500 and nearly 8 per cent in MSCI EM tells us that Indian mid- and small-caps were oversold earlier in the year. Once breadth improved and volatility cooled, our trend-following algorithms signalled a switch from defensives back into risk-on trades, which helped us capture that steady grind higher through May. Looking ahead, I expect this orderly advance to persist so long as corporate earnings surprises remain positive and global macro risks stay contained. From a risk‐management standpoint, we'll maintain a modest volatility skirt around key support levels and hedge if our downside‐break thresholds are breached, but for now, the models favour staying long the market's run. On valuations, our factor overlays highlight that forward PEs near 20 times sit at multi-year highs, which historically compress future excess returns. Quantitatively, this means our valuation screens are flagging fewer new buys at the index level, and instead we're tilting toward sectors where our earnings-growth forecasts outpace implied growth baked into current prices. In practice, we're lowering our broad‐market risk budget and reallocating it to idiosyncratic ideas, where our earnings‐revision models and low‐volume screens still show attractive risk–reward profiles. In sum, while broad-market returns may settle into mid-single digits from here, a disciplined factor blend and rigorous risk controls should allow us to outperform that baseline. Quarter-four earnings paint a picture of breadth rather than brilliance. Across the top 500 listed companies, median profit after tax advanced roughly 10 per cent quarter-on-quarter while sales rose about 5 per cent, with 69 per cent of firms posting positive profit growth. Crucially, the dispersion favoured the interior of the market-cap curve: mid- and small-cap names delivered profit growth north of 20 per cent, versus low-single-digit advances for large-caps. Factor diagnostics we run internally, profit revision momentum, sales acceleration, and operating-leverage screens, confirm that the earnings pulse is strongest in capital goods, select metals, and telecom, where pricing power and execution gains are translating cleanly into cash flow. At the index level, the Nifty 100 'beat-or-meet' ratio has climbed back to 51 per cent, the best reading since mid-2023. This indicates that analysts' downgrades earlier in the year have finally reset the bar to achievable levels. Taken together, the quarter shows that profit growth is broad-based enough to sustain the cycle, but not yet explosive enough to justify fresh multiple expansion on its own. Looking ahead, the market's next leg higher still hinges on a handful of catalysts that are measurable in our models but uncertain in their timing. Foremost is monetary policy: with headline CPI drifting below the Reserve Bank of India's 4 per cent midpoint, the window has opened for an initial 25- to 50-basis-point cut; a sustained easing cycle would lower discount rates and support rate-sensitive factors such as quality growth and housing proxies. A second variable is the monsoon, which the IMD now projects at 106 per cent of the long-period average. Early rainfall could revive rural purchasing power and lift two-wheeler, FMCG and agro-inputs volumes into the festival season. Third, clarity on US-India trade rules, especially around technology transfer and critical minerals, would help de-risk export-linked earnings streams. Finally, corporate capex intent remains high on survey data but is yet to translate into hard spend; a visible pick-up in order books would underpin earnings trajectories for FY 26-27. Valuations, meanwhile, leave little cushion: the Nifty trades near 22 times forward earnings, or roughly one standard deviation above its decade average, so any disappointment on these triggers could compress multiples. That is why, despite our constructive three- to five-year view on India's structural story, we continue to run fully invested but factor-balanced books tilting toward companies with improving earnings revision momentum, clean balance-sheets and demonstrable pricing power, while hedging outliers through disciplined risk overlays rather than trying to time six- or twelve-month index levels that, in truth, no one can consistently forecast. The Indian defence industry has demonstrated strong engineering capabilities in recent military operations and benefits from steady domestic demand alongside growing export opportunities. While the military-industrial complex is well-positioned to become a significant contributor to the economy, it is challenging to determine whether this optimism is already reflected in current valuations and whether the sector can deliver truly outsized returns going forward. We no longer distinguish between PSU and private banks—both segments have delivered strong returns in the past when operating performance was robust and valuations were attractive. Our focus today is on identifying banks whose future growth prospects are meaningfully underappreciated by the market. At this juncture, we do not see any banking stocks offering that degree of asymmetry. While many banks remain solid businesses, none currently meet the elevated return expectations or risk–reward thresholds we require for new convictions. One compelling growth driver is the ongoing US–China trade tensions, which have spurred higher import tariffs and stricter regulatory scrutiny on Chinese pharmaceutical suppliers. India's well-established API manufacturing base, combined with a rising focus on differentiated products and biosimilars, positions Indian pharma companies to capture these displaced volumes in regulated markets. By moving up the value chain—from pure generics to high-complexity formulations and speciality injectables—Indian firms can secure premium pricing, deepen customer relationships, and meaningfully increase their US market share over the next two years. We advocate maintaining a 5–10 per cent strategic allocation to gold across all time horizons. This positioning serves as an effective hedge against inflation, negative real rates, and geopolitical uncertainty. We recommend adding to positions on meaningful pullbacks, as even a modest allocation can help dampen the volatility of an equity-heavy portfolio. Read all market-related news here Read more stories by Nishant Kumar Disclaimer: This story is for educational purposes only. The views and recommendations above are those of individual analysts or broking companies, not Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before making any investment decisions, as market conditions can change rapidly, and circumstances may vary.


Economic Times
23-05-2025
- Economic Times
ETMarkets PMS Talk: India's growth + global devaluation = next bull market - Qode's FY26 outlook
Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads India's structural growth story combined with the looming threat of global currency devaluation could be the perfect recipe for the next big bull run in equities, says Rishabh Nahar, Partner and Fund Manager at Qode Advisors, in this edition of ETMarkets PMS an exclusive interaction, Nahar shares how Qode's quant-driven strategies helped their Tactical and All Weather Funds outperform the BSE 500 TRI in a strong emphasis on risk management , data-backed decision-making, and selective risk-taking, Qode's approach focuses on consistent outperformance, particularly during volatile or bearish managing downside through gold and puts, to identifying high-conviction growth stocks, Nahar explains why volatility isn't risk—and why India is uniquely positioned for long-term equity market gains as global macro headwinds continue to shift. Edited Excerpts –A) We specialise in risk management, and that played out well for us. We protect the portfolios with an element of gold as well as protection using puts. We were rewarded because of having these positions and Qode All weather and Tactical portfolios are pure quant portfolios designed to outperform during bear markets. We have a strong risk management framework in place. Since last year, markets (especially mid- and small-caps) have been elevated, and we were in a risk-off in the last few months have we taken some risk on these portfolios. All these decisions are not made subjectively. We have a pure data-driven approach and have done extensive testing with a deep understanding of markets.A) Our portfolios are designed to weather bad months or large amounts of volatility. The Qode All Weather, as the name suggests, is designed to see lower drawdowns and outperform during bad did not make any tactical changes, since we are a quant fund our models are designed taking years of data that have seen situations like this in the past.A) With all weather and tactical, we try to maintain a low beta, but when markets are beaten down and businesses are available at attractive valuations, we are willing to take on risk. We are not afraid to take risk- when the situation is favourable. Our outperformance will come by protecting downside in bad years. To explain this, here is a simple example:The above table easily shows how drawdowns could affect your returns.A) With Qode Growth Fund and Qode Future Horizons, we are looking at buying businesses that are showing strong earnings momentum. In the Growth Fund, we hold a 30-stock portfolio with an average market cap of 8000 are fairly strong businesses that have shown great execution capabilities in the past. But due to the size of the businesses being smaller, the stock price sees more Future Horizon, we are looking to hold 10-12 fundamentally strong businesses with immense growth potential. This is a more concentrated portfolio because we have a lot of conviction in our understand the business in depth and take a large position in each of them. Because of the larger position sizes, the volatility is higher, but we do not consider volatility as risk.A) Qode Growth Fund, Qode All Weather and Qode Tactical are pure quant funds. Businesses and ETFs are picked based on factors that we think lead to EPS are three pillars we work around: 1. What to buy (fundamentally strong businesses) 2. When to buy (Valuations) and 3. How much to buy (position sizing)All our quant models are built around this framework. All three strategies are built with a data-driven fourth strategy, Qode Future Horizon – we are looking at a quantamental framework because there are lots of great businesses with scattered data or data that's not look to meet the management and understand the business by taking a deep dive individually in each business.A) Our macro view remains fixed at the growth story for India and Equity markets. With the US debt crisis coming closer, a large amount of US debt is maturing in the next four years. Money printing and devaluation will be a large factor for equities to do money printing/devaluation plus a strong position for India will fuel the next bull market . Having exposure to assets like equities/gold and real estate (mostly land) will be a key component for individuals to maintain/grow their wealth.A) We refrain from having such a short-term outlook because markets are a complex place, and in the short run, factors like demand/supply, war, and trade policies will have a larger impact on their movement. Even if we could model all these factors there is no significant upside for anyone to have a view on the markets for a quarter or two.A) We are sector/ theme agnostic. We look for fundamentally strong businesses that have a long runway for earnings growth and promoters that have excellent execution like to own owner-operated businesses with strong brand names and high ROCE's. Most of the businesses we own are completely debt-free and have had a strong earnings momentum.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times)