The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex breezed past 5,100 in intra-day trades to 5,135, but profit booking at this level dragged down the index to 5,055 at one point. The Sensex, however, managed to hold on and closed at 5097.84, up nearly 35 points from Monday's close.
With the bar raised to 5,100, the question facing the market is simple: Does it have enough power to take the Sensex to 6,000 or higher?
To understand the market mood, Business Standard conducted a snap poll of around 15 fund managers, and the answers were reassuring.
The current Sensex level of 5,000 was sustainable, all said, noting that it was based purely on fundamentals. But not all fund managers were sure that 6,000 would be equally justified, unless corporate India posted a massive jump in earnings in the following quarters.
N Sethuraman, chief investment officer of SBI Mutual Fund, said rather cautiously, "The current level of 5,000 could hold since the driving factor is corporate performance and, of course, inflows from foreign institutional investors."
Fund manager at Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund Paras Adenwala said, "The second-quarter results have been encouraging, and we see upgrades on expectations of improved third-quarter results, when the benefits of the good monsoon will be felt." Echoing this, Suhas Naik, fund manager at IL&FS Mutual Fund, said at current levels, valuations were still reasonable and attractive.
"At present, the market has only discounted this year's earnings and not the earnings for the next financial year," Naik said. He pointed out that once next year's earnings were factored in, the market had scope to go further.
Sandeep Dasgupta, head of Deutsche Asset Management, said, "The take on the market is difficult at this level. But stock-specific valuations are still attractive."
Ved Prakash Chaturvedi, CEO, Tata Mutual Fund, said, "I think there can be consolidation at these levels, which is healthy for the market. Investors should enter at low levels with a medium-term perspective."
Fund managers were generally reluctant to comment on whether the Sensex would climb to 6,000. Sethuraman said: "Touching 6,000 will mean that the market is overheated. Today's levels are justified by the current economic conditions."
Adenwala said while he would not like to comment on the level, any further increase would require a re-rating of the market and improved performance in the third quarter.
The consensus is that while the current level of 5,000 looks reasonable without any sign of overheating, another 1,000 point rise will require corporate India to post an extraordinary performance.
