SECOND TEAM
N. Krishnan CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets
N. Krishnan of CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets wins second place. In November, Krishnan astutely downgraded the banking sector in his model portfolio from overweight to neutral, largely on valuation. At the time, the Bombay Stock Exchange bank index was up 36 percent year-to-date, to 13,618.77. In January, when the index had slipped 1.2 percent, to 13,454.28, and lagged the broad market by 6.4 percentage points, he lowered it to underweight, citing rising interest rates. By the end of May, the sector was down a further 6.8 percent, to 12,543, but the broad market had fallen even further, slumping 10 percent. Krishnan “identifies risks and opportunities ahead of time,” observes one advocate.