As the poll haze clears, check out the top sectors experts are betting on

Better-than-expected exit polls that showed clear majority for the Narendra Modi-led NDA (National Democratic Alliance) in the Lok Sabha elections 2019 gave an over 1,000-point lift to the S&P BSE Sensex on Monday. 

The rally was broad-based as all the sectors, barring information technology (IT), witnessed heavy buying. Heavyweights such as ICICI Bank, RIL (Reliance Industries), HDFC and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) rallied over 4 per cent each in intra-day trade.

Meanwhile, volatility index India VIX declined as much as 18 per cent to 22.91, suggesting volatility in the market is likely to ease in the coming weeks.

Investor sentiment, which took a hit intermittently during the election period that started April 11, got a major boost after the exit poll prediction. 

"The rise in main indices is justified considering the numbers that have come in the exit polls. We expect Nifty 50 to retest the recent high of nearly 11, 850 before May 23. Break out into a new zone would depend on whether BJP on its own is able to secure more than half the seats," says Rusmik Oza, head of fundamental research at Kotak Securities.

Given the exit polls, here is a look at the top stocks and sectors leading analysts are betting on:

MOTILAL OSWAL FINANCIAL SERVICES

Among the large-cap stocks, the brokerage is bullish on ICICI Bank, SBI, Maruti, Ultratech, L&T, Titan, Bharti Airtel, Coal India, Infosys, and HDFC Life. 

At the bourses, the above-mentioned stocks have given mixed returns over the last 12 months. While ICICI Bank, SBI and Titan Company have rallied over 25 per cent, shares of HDFC Life, Maruti and Coal India have slipped over 10 per cent. In comparison, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex has gained around 9 per cent during the period, ACE Equity data show. 

Federal Bank, LIC Housing Finance, Indian Hotels, Siemens, ABFRL (Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail), Crompton Consumer, Ashoka Buildcon, JSPL, and Godrej Agrovet are its top picks from the mid-cap space.  

Apart from election results outcome, other key near-term monitorable include progress of monsoon, trends in rural consumption and events in the debt market. 

AK PRABHAKAR, head of research, IDBI Capital

Prabhakar is placing his bets on oil marketing companies (OMCs) and public sector (PSU) stocks. "Whenever the NDA government has come to power, PSUs usually have done very well. His top picks are BEL (Bharat Electronics), NTPC and Power Grid. Apart from this, he is positive on life insurers like HDFC Life, ICICI Pru.

SUDIP BANDYOPADHYAY, group chairman at Inditrade Group of Companies

Bandyopadhyay is positive on cement stocks as he feels pricing power is backing the cement sector. That apart, chemicals, especially, the specialty chemicals sector is another sector he is bullish on. "Indian specialty chemical players have a fantastic future given the US-China trade tensions. So, one should buy good quality stocks from these sectors," he says.