Increase bond market limits

If the bond market stays bearish for an extended period, negative sentiment will feed into equities

For the past 18 months, the stock market has been in a strong bull run, with a brief pause for demonetisation. Earnings have grown at less than 10 per cent during this six-quarter period, while prices moved up over 50 per cent. 

Investors are hoping for faster earnings per share (EPS) growth in the third quarter (October to December 2017). Consensus says earnings growth will be in the range of 15 to 20 per cent, which doesn’t justify the price-to-earnings (PE) valuations of 27-plus. The Union Budget is the other short-term sentiment factor; most of the smart money will commit only