Mehra added that they see the Sensex at 17,500 by Diwali.
According to him, the concerns on crude and interest rates remain. The Fed cut by 25 bps could see cheer in the equity markets, stated Mehra. There are enough non-US funds moving around in markets to absorb shocks.
Excerpts from CNBC-TV18's exclusive interview Atul Mehra:
Q: We are within striking distance of an all-time high, could we go much higher from here, if so how much?
A: Well we have not seen highs being created; we are going to see newer highs being created. My personal guess is you will see the index somewhere in the region of 17,500 closer to Diwali time. The fundamental reason that gives me motivation to believe that is going to be achieved is liquidity. The same old argument that we have been using for three years still continue to hold true.
Q: Fundamentally, there is a wee bit of a crack coming on the windscreen. You have this IIP number, which is not looking too good. Globally you could see a slowdown because credit is tight. So, would you say that this liquidity argument could get punctured?
A: If you want to add a slight bit of crack, add two more cracks to that. One is the oil price trading at USD 80 a barrel and interest rate, which still continues to trade in the vicinity of 10.5% to 11.5%, which is still high. These are what I call cracks, which are there. The question out over there is all these have been factored into our system, markets are taking note of it and right now corporate India may have given us enough confidence and made us believe that despite all these cracks and uncertainties their numbers will be very much on track and their growth will not be hampered in quarters and years to come ahead.
Q: You are looking at 17,000 by Diwali and perhaps a continued high, where should investors be putting their money sector-wise?
A: Let me give you five or six sectors that I am personally very excited about. Slot numbers one, two and three have been taken up by power sectors. We are very bullish on power, power transmission, and power distribution. So, all the three sectors in one bucket is the most exciting sector. We are bullish on the construction sector; we are bullish on capital goods as a sector. The two other sectors that are our favourites would be the opportunistic sectors and one of them would be the alternate fuel sector. This is a very interesting sector and I am pretty much excited about this sector.
The second sector, which is again very interesting, would be the resources sector, which is what I call as the metal resources sector, basically back into the iron ore or manganese ore, those kinds of companies. This is a very interesting sector and I would urge investors to look into that.