2025 Market Outlook: Quick Commerce growth set to continue, but stock valuations remain a concern: Ashwini Agarwal
«But broadly, it is going to be a very challenging year because I do not expect significant returns at the index level in 2025 given how strong returns have been over the last few years and the fact that earning growth has slowed down. So, to that extent, to expect the markets to do very well again in 25 is going to be a very difficult task,» says Ashwini Agarwal, Founder, Demeter Advisors.
Heading into next year do you believe it is going to be a year of defensives or do you think the cyclicals will be taking over and if you are liking something from the cyclical space right now, other than your usual defensives, just give us a sense of what is looking attractive on that front as well.
Ashwini Agarwal: So, my sense is that sectorally, it is very hard to make broad brush recommendations because by and large, stock prices are very well discovered. So, banking and finance is one space, healthcare and pharma is another space. Normalisation of margins in a post-COVID slump of margins for midstream pharma or for speciality chemicals is another space. So, those are some of those spaces that I am looking at. Otherwise, it is more bottom-up.
You will continue to see interesting opportunities in the market, stocks that have lagged and where earnings are normalising that kind of a theme will play out on a stock-specific basis in 2025. But broadly, it is going to be a very challenging year because I do not expect significant returns at the index level in 2025 given how strong returns have been over the last few years and
