The end of the fiscal year 2008-09 is just around the corner. The year’s results and guidance forecasts for the next fiscal year will start coming in from the middle of April. Overall, the markets are expected to remain rangebound for the next few weeks due to economic uncertainty on the global front.

The general elections are scheduled here in April-May. Analysts believe a stable government in the centre will definitely help in building the confidence of domestic as well as foreign institutional investors.

Here are some of the sectors that are expected to be on investor radars through the next few quarters:

Telecom

India is one of the fastestgrowing mobile telephone markets in the world. In January 2009, domestic telecom companies recorded the highest subscriber growth ever anywhere in the world.

The main reasons behind the growth in the domestic telecom market are reducing costs of ownership and increasing geographical coverage. The telecom market here is expected to see a high growth rate despite the economic slowdown due to the roll-out of 3G technology .

Investors should track the average revenue per user (ARPU) figures of telecom companies during this high growth scenario for any dips.

However, analysts also believe that the roll-out of various value-added services (VAS) in urban areas will help the telecom companies protect their ARPU figures. Currently, the valuations of telecom stocks are quite attractive in the markets. Investors should look at investing in telecom stocks with a long-term perspective .

Banking

The outlook for banking sector stocks is positive. Most banks have shown reasonably good results despite the slowing credit growth. Large US banks also came out with positive announcements last week.

Analysts believe that the banking sector will decisively revive once the US realty sector stabilises. Banks here should be able to sustain margins and their profitability in the medium to long terms. Investors can look at accumulating blue-chip stocks in both the public sector as well as private sector banks.

Information technology

The outlook for IT stocks can be summarised as cautiously optimistic, especially of blue-chip IT stocks. The global trend of cutting costs by hiring low-cost contractors, and vendor consolidation, is helping the large domestic IT companies.

Currency, the exchange rate remains favorable as the rupee is trading close to its all-time low against the US dollar.

Investors should remain cautious as IT stocks are sensitive to global news and currency exchange rate movements.

Investors should exit from smaller IT companies and can hold their positions in larger IT companies, as the larger IT companies are better-equipped to sail through this slowdown due to their large and diversified client bases, cash positions and established brand names.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure and real estate stocks are out of favour in the market presently. Most of them have lost significantly from their peak valuations as these companies are under tremendous pressures due to rise in input costs and liquidity crunch.

Although banks have cut interest rates on home loans in response to the Reserve Bank of India’s policy rate cuts, the demand has not picked-up significantly yet due to lower earnings.

Investors with a long-term horizon (more than three years) can hold on to their positions in blue-chip companies and buy more at dips to average out.

Auto

The automobile sector companies saw substantial volume growth last month (February 2009). All leading players in two-wheeler as well as four-wheeler segments saw a rise on a yearon-year basis.

However, investors should be cautious before taking fresh positions in the auto sector stocks. Analysts believe the demand in the auto sector could remain weak over the next few months as credit availability has not improved significantly despite the RBI’s cutting of policy interest rates many times in the recent past.

Also, sales in the commercial vehicles segment are expected to be high in March 2009 due to depreciation benefits for businesses.

Hospitality

The domestic hotel industry is better-placed than its global peers but the overall outlook for this sector is quite weak.

All major hotels reported declines in sales and profits in the last few quarters. Sales in the peak season are also not picking up due to reduced business travel. Leisure trips are also reduced these days.

Those invested in hotel stocks can look at exiting during market rallies.