Investors are always so busy celebrating market highs that they miss the peak out moment. So, most investors tend to wake up long after the market corrects. The only way to ensure one is alert to the market highs is to follow an active-passive approach that is dynamic. This requires…
Opinions are very different from judgements. Investment is a field where we carry both and apply them constantly. Opinions are lighter, presumptive, and easy going. We can like or dislike a personality, a business leader, an industry, or a business. Opinions formed on the basis of instinct rather than inquiry…
Indices do have their own way of peaking out. Up moves and peak outs are connected. What happens around an up move leads to a peak out. The up move must be clearly understood. So, let us now deconstruct it. Usually, the defensive stocks lead the index movement. But, this…
At a time when everybody has overdosed on equity, elections are looking imminent, macros are getting challenging, and benchmarks are outperforming portfolios, it makes sense to take a re-look at asset allocation. Clearly, the most important thing now is to get our asset allocation right. A wrong allocation can affect…
Stock picking takes far more mind space, time, and effort in every investor’s life. The time dedicated to stock picking far exceeds the time spent on investment strategy. Stock picking and investment strategy are connected in the middle. The reasons are not difficult to decipher. Deep within, we believe that…
The genesis for the current meltdown in Indian markets must be understood well and remembered for a long time to come. Interestingly, the indices held steady during this period. So, what caused this downslide? Broadly, the markets showed overwhelming faith in smaller companies over the index bellwethers between 2015 and…
The sharp comeback in pharma stocks, the buyback announcement by TCS, and the sustained weakness in midcaps send out clear signals. The markets are at the crossroads. Liquidity and its power to sustain equity valuations have been overestimated. You may wonder why this is happening. As a performance hugging universe,…
While the markets were focused on equities, yields on the 10-Year gilt quietly rose to cross 8% again. With other asset classes like real estate not doing much, and returns from equities clearly slowing down, debt makes a clear comeback as an option for conservative investors. Over the next few…
“Large caps look inexpensive compared to small and midcaps.” A value investing peer said this in a rather complaining tone. To investors who made most of their wealth buying small and midcaps, these are troubling times indeed. The situation has remained so for the past year. Investors have been struggling…
Participation in equity markets is viewed as a secular trend. Being invested is not the same thing as being invested in the right place. Even within the equity market, where you are invested matters. For instance, one could still have been fully invested in equity markets without owning a single…
The week was eventful and that is putting it mildly. Globally, we saw the Iran deal getting called off by the US. Oil prices predictably spiked. Several domestic banks reported their worst numbers in recent history. Provisioning norms enforced by the RBI seem to have taken a toll. The political…
Interest rates are a great leveller. They always set the trends of the equity markets. But we have two sets of rates to contend with, domestic and global rates. Domestic interest rate trends are constantly shifting and puzzling. Just when the trend seems set to rise, something happens which softens…