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The first of the current financial year progressed on the predicted lines. There were no remarkable surprises either in the global macroeconomic developments or market performance. The focus of market participants and policymakers remained mostly on the macroeconomic parameters. Economic growth and trade moderated worldwide with a few exceptions like India. Inflation remained elevated but under control. Monetary policy continued to tighten resulting in higher bond yields, tighter liquidity, and rising cost of capital. Geopolitical conditions remained mostly unchanged. Commodity prices moved in tandem with the macroeconomic, geopolitical, and environmental conditions. Clouded growth outlook led the industrial metals down; higher bond yields and stronger USD weighed the precious metals lower, depleted strategic reserves and larger output cut by OPEC+ led the energy prices higher, and better crop and improvement in shipments from war zones led the agri produce prices lower. Chinese eq...

  Strategy review 1HFY23 Market performance For the Indian markets, the first half of the current financial year (1HFY23) has been noteworthy in many respects. While the benchmark indices have remained boringly range bound (not unexpectedly  see here ), the shift in sector preferences has been material. Also as expected volatility has remained low to moderate and market breadth has narrowed down. Some key highlights of the market performance in 1HFY23 could be listed as below: Equity Markets ·           Benchmark Nifty lost 2.1%, sharply outperforming the peers from emerging as well as developed markets. For example, S&P500 (US) lost ~20% in this period; while STOXX600 (Euro Area) was down over 15%. ·           The foreign flows were majorly negative in 5 out of 6 months. Overall foreign portfolio investors sold ~US$20bn worth of Indian equities. Most of this selling was absorbed by d...