Shridatta’s base case is that the Gulf situation will be resolved sooner rather than later, since too many global players are being adversely affected by it.
Basis this, he believes earnings impact may not go beyond 1QFY27, thus minimizing overall impact on market.
Oil at $80-85 is actually good for the economy as it brings in moderate inflation. Oil at $100-110 is bad news.
Market has rallied 10%+ since its March lows, but the situation in the Gulf hasn’t yet got resolved. One has to be watchful on how the situation there plays out to see whether the base case needs to be revisited.
Shridatta is constructive on markets – more so on largecaps where valuations have now come back to historical averages. Among smaller companies, while valuations are still elevated, earnings expectations are more realistic and bottom up ideas can be found – either as opportunistic plays arising from the Gulf situation or structural plays that are available now at more comfortable valuations.
He is focusing on bottom up stories among financials, healthcare, telecom, utilities. He is taking profits selectively in industrials and some domestic cyclicals.
Canara Robeco’s MAAF will be completing its first year with a return of around 8-9% - driven largely by precious metals. Shridatta reiterates that MAAF investors should be anchoring their expectations around an FD+ kind of return profile over 3-5 year time periods, which is delivered through the interplay of 3-4 different asset classes in the portfolio.
There may be out years like 2025 where MAAFs delivered 20%+ returns and there could be bad years where they deliver no returns (the last few months being a case in point). In both such extreme cases, it would help for investors to remember what MAAFs are meant to do and are geared to deliver over a market cycle.
The AMC’s MAAF can allocate anywhere between 30-80% in equity. Over the last 1 year, it has seen a low of 45% equity allocation which rose to around 60% in March 2026. Price to book and yield gap are the two valuation parameters that guide its asset allocation model.
Alpha from active stock selection is a key component of this MAAF’s strategy, besides driving alpha from asset allocation decisions.
The fund has 13% exposure to gold. It traded opportunistically in silver when it rallied all the way to $120, but there is no thinking now to get back into silver.