Liquidity can create more irrationality than we can imagine. Often, investors hasten their investment process just to rid themselves of liquidity. It tends to unnerve investors who are sitting on cash and seeing a rising market. It pains them no end to be mere spectators and not an active participants. Participation anxiety…
Domestic investor confidence has risen sharply over the past two months. During this period domestic investors have gravitated even more towards equity, overwhelmingly preferring it over other asset classes. This is in contrast to their usual standpoint, where equity was the least preferred asset class. From the least preferred to…
Seasoned investors are great believers in the power of circumspection. It is the rare ability to be guarded, prudent, careful, vigilant and wary exactly at the time when one needs to be. It is not often that one comes across such investors. Mostly, they are hidden behind the veil of…
The results season has begun. The first big one was from the tech major, Infosys. The markets clearly gave a thumbs down. Infosys has not been able to provide growth. More importantly, it has been unable to promise a return to growth. But, it has been working on improving efficiency…
Investing often follows a routine. We identify ways of turning investing into a set pattern or a routine. Our choosing to invest in what has recently performed well is a good example of this approach. A routine helps every investor to organise his savings, deploy money steadily and to achieve…
2016-17 was quite an extraordinary financial year. It was spectacularly unpredictable on the macro front. Few would have predicted that the rupee would have closed the year stronger at 64.9 vs the dollar after opening at 66.36. Fewer would have predicted that the NIFTY would deliver 18.9% returns after the…
Investors in mutual funds turn to one metric when they are confused about what to do? Difficult moments in investment decision making inevitably lead to that one- stop decision making tool. Every investment recommendation draws authority from this one metric that metric is past performance. Investors draw liberally from this…
The return of the FII’s on the buy side has turned things upside down. Until now, the FIIs were mostly sellers and DIIs were predominantly buyers. The role reversal between FII’s and DII’s is not an unusual thing. But, what remain to be seen is if DIIs can really sustain…
The markets have hit a new normal. Political capital is no more a worry for the Government. Now, the Modi government can be emboldened to hasten reforms, implement GST, come down strongly on tax evaders and clean up the system. But, this sequence will still need time to show good…
“Investing is not supposed to be easy, and anybody who finds it easy is stupid.” These words of Charlie Munger were highlighted by Howard Marks in a recent lecture to India’s value investing community. This set me wondering again about the current narratives that dominate the Indian investing space. Post-2014…
Global factors keep returning again and again to haunt our markets. Just when we believed that we are de-coupled from global markets, we had a sharp dip due to a Trump win in November, 2016. De-monetisation also added to the market’s woes. 2017 started on a low and has seen…
Most people make investments because they want to. They often ignore & overlook whether they actually need to. Investing works very well only if one questions himself on the need. When the need is not clearly identified, the investing is goal-less. Often when we invest without goals, there is a…