“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…
Rising oil is something nobody has factored into their investment calculus. So, there will be a need to rewrite the whole math. When the market is forced to suddenly revisit its math, it is more likely that the rework will be aggressive. So, the market reaction will tend to be…
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…
The coming weeks will probably see a big deal announcement. This is going to be in a space where investors constantly doubted valuations. If the rumour mills are to be believed, this deal between a potential buyer and Flipkart, India’s leading online retailer will be one of the biggest deals…
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…
Just four months ago, the markets were showing consensus on the end of the extended market run enjoyed by tech stocks. “Where is the growth? What will happen to Indian tech if automation and Artificial Intelligence take off?”. The cynics were having a field day. People were clearly mixing up…
As tech stocks hit new highs and commodity prices spike upwards, domestic investors seem to be ignoring them for now. On the contrary, they continue to pour money into small and midcaps. Several stocks continue to be benign beneficiaries of mindless investing. The entire small and midcap boom was constructed…
India saw the most number of economic reforms in 2017-18. It was a year when the GST was implemented, the IBC gained momentum, the NCLT saw resolutions getting nearer. More bad loans were moving towards resolution than even before. The government decisively moved on, ensuring Make in India works and…
A new financial year brings along newer opportunities and challenges. A financial year which follows an extremely profitable investment year will always have the challenge of delivering comparable performance. After a good year, we expect the next to be even better. But, when the year gets progressively tougher, then the…
When markets correct sharply, where are you looking? This question assumes special significance as the indices are down 10%+ from this year’s highs. And the lows don’t seem imminently near. Effectively, we are now in a market where everybody has overplayed their hand. And, when you have overplayed your hand,…
Politics makes a huge comeback in the stock markets, exactly when the markets are not ready for it. Unlike other market disruptions which pan out as standalone events, politics sets off a trend resulting in a series of events. Throw in a few economic events from time to time between the…
