“From a technical perspective, I would say the market is kind of getting into the phase where, kind of a “melt-up” phase, where it’s more driven by liquidity and sentiment, which can take it probably still higher from here,” says Mahesh Patil, Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC, which manages assets worth nearly ₹2,000 crore.

While there are no significant medium-to-long-term concerns and the underlying fundamentals remain strong, Patil said the current market phase requires vigilance.

He recommended maintaining a long-term investment strategy, taking some profits in stocks that have surged ahead of their fundamentals, and leveraging the stability provided by the recent budget.

Among sectors, Patil has a neutral view on banking where he believes the period of regulatory challenges appears to be over.

“I think the regulatory overreach that we have seen in the last few months should be now behind us. So from a valuation perspective, and also in terms of kind of moderate growth, after the recent underperformance, banks look fairly okay to us. We are not overly positive, but again, not too negative,” he added.

In the IT sector, Patil observed that overall performance aligns with expectations and appears to have stabilised.

Future growth is anticipated, albeit at a moderate pace, based on current commentary.

Regarding other sectors, Patil pointed out that consumer staples are likely to show weak top-line growth for the quarter.

In contrast, the pharmaceutical sector is performing well, leading to some positive revisions.

The power sector also reported strong numbers. Overall, he described the results as mixed but consistent with expected growth momentum.

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