After two years of underperforming the broader market, stocks in the defensive sectors — FMCG, IT services and pharmaceuticals — are finding favor with investors again. The combined weighting of these three defensive sectors is now up 27.6 percent from a four-year low of 27.1 percent in December 2023.
The increase was led by pharmaceutical manufacturers, but FMCG and IT services providers outperformed the broader market in July.
However, top pharmaceutical companies such as Sun Pharmaceuticals, Cipla and Divi’s Laboratories are among the best performing index stocks over the past year.