Goldman Sachs Downgrades Cement Sector

Goldman Sachs, the global investment bank, has recently downgraded the cement sector from overweight to neutral. Sunil Koul, Equity Strategist-APAC at Goldman Sachs, highlighted that the bank expects muted sales volumes for the upcoming quarters in the cement sector. This outlook follows a near 15% rally in cement stocks recently, which has limited their upside potential.

Despite the downgrade, Goldman Sachs still likes the cement sector for the longer term, as it plays into both the real estate recovery cycle and the infrastructure sector. Koul remains optimistic about the industrials sector.

Koul is also overweight on the Indian market, citing its structural and fundamental strength. He expects foreign money to continue flowing into the market, especially post-elections. Koul explained that while Indian equities saw a 20% return last year, 18% of this was led by earnings growth, indicating that the rally was fundamentally driven.

Source:
CNBC TV18