According to financial analysts, Omicron, the new variant of COVID-19 is not likely to showcase a strong impact on the performance of companies operating in sectors like FMCG, pharmaceutical and telecom.
International and Indian markets experienced a sharp dip on Friday after reports of the new South African variant of the virus.
The SENSEX was down by 1687 points for a close at 57,107 points and the NIFTY was down by 509 points for a close at 17026 points on Friday.
Parth Nyati, Founder of Tradingo, said "We are seeing the first meaningful correction in the current bull and it is likely to be a double-digit correction. Corrections are to be considered healthy for the market and in the previous big bull run of 2003-2007, there were three instances of more than 30 per cent correction."
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Nyati added that the correction, besides being healthy for the market, will also offer buying opportunities in select sectors that are attractive in the recent fall. His advice to the investors is to opt for a favourable risk-reward opportunity instead of “hurry and buy aggressively” on the dips.
"FMCG sector is one of them because the Nifty FMCG index has corrected more than 10 per cent where most of the counters are trading near critical support levels. The FMCG sector is defensive and the recent fall in commodity prices on the back of rising concerns of Covid will ease their input cost pressure and that was a key concern for them, therefore, the FMCG sector may outperform in the near term," he said.
"Pharma stocks are getting in good health after a long period of underperformance where many stocks had corrected between 25-50 per cent from the peak. They may also do well in the near term on the back of rising worries of a new variant of Covid-19."
Pharma stocks like Alkem Laboratories, Cadila Healthcare, Dr. Reddy's, Divi's Laboratories, Cipla among others showcased a considerable gain during the Friday session where most other sectors performed poorly.
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Telecom sector will continue to perform well as it has the negligent effect of Covid.
He added that, amid the recent correction, investors should focus on sectors like realty, capital goods, power and infrastructure, banking, textile, and technology as they will continue to showcase a strong performance for the next few years.