Jefferies prefers consumer staples to IT — here's why

Jefferies reduced the weightage of IT stocks in its India model portfolio by three percentage points to 11 percent on Tuesday, saying the sector remains at a significant risk of a sell-off in case of a correction in the benchmark Nifty50. The brokerage is 'underweight' on the IT space.

It moved that weight to consumer staples, as it expects the space to be defensive in the event of a market correction.

IT stocks account for 11 percent weightage in the model portfolio, as against 14 percent in the Nifty. These are: Infosys (7.5 percent), Tech Mahindra (one percent) and TCS (2.5 percent).

Consumer staples have a larger weight of 13.2 percent in the portfolio, as against 10.8 percent in the benchmark index. These are: Hindustan Unilever (4.1 percent), Godrej Consumer Products (3.9 percent) and ITC (5.2 percent).

Here's a look at the brokerage's model portfolio:

The Nifty50 has had three declines of more than 10 percent each, where auto, industrials and FMCG have outperformed among the large sectors, and IT, healthcare and materials have underperformed, according to Jefferies.

"Banks have been broadly market performers. Any potential market correction will likely emanate out of hawkish stance by the Fed and the likely stagflation worries. That could hit the IT sector," the brokerage added.

Here's a look the 24 stocks that are a part of the portfolio: