Markets to remain rangebound with downward bias: Nilesh Shah, Kotak AMC

NEW DELHI: Markets may remain rangebound with a negative bias, and market participants will look forward to the US Fed rate action as well as how the monsoon progresses for cues, Nilesh Shah, MD, Kotak AMC, said in an interview with ET Now.

"The markets will be looking forward to monsoon in the near term, which is expected to be below average, but above last year’s monsoon. Market will also be looking forward to Fed rate hike cycle, whether it will be in June or September," Shah said.

"As a domestic investor, we are looking at FY17 and we still believe that with the government taking the initiatives on spending in road, railway and power sector, we will see steady earnings growth over next two years. The earnings will pick up much more in FY17 compared to FY16, and, hence, investors should continue to look at taking advantage of a dip in the market to build their portfolio," said Shah.

Earlier in the day, the Reserve Bank of India cut the repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.25%. It kept cash reserve ratio (CRR) of scheduled commercial banks unchanged at 4 per cent of net demand and time liabilities (NDTL). The Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) was also left unchanged at 21.5 per cent.