At the beginning of 2012, we were of the view that equities were very attractively priced. The bad news was mostly factored in. The good news wasn’t. This was a classic buy signal and we said so. The markets have performed very decently throughout 2012. Sadly, domestic investors refused to…
The markets always pray for a prophet to guide them. ‘If only we had this seminal mind that takes us through everything!’ is the most basic hope of lay investors. This explains the rationale of having market gurus. Never mind, there is no market prophet. We still have a Buffett…
The government got its act together on FDI in retail, PSU Disinvestment, land bill and Spectrum price corrections within just a fortnight. That it could pull together so much in quick fire mode is a sign of things to come. Reforms are now a dire necessity. Everybody who matters politically…
Whenever the Indian markets rallied, the fundamentals always played second fiddle to Reliance -the index bellwether. ‘There can be no rally without Reliance’; even the walls of Dalal street had this belief plastered all over. As Reliance rose and fell, our market hit bull highs and bear troughs for…
December often sets the tone for the next year’s market trend. The early birds move ahead of the market to capture vantage positions. Last December saw the markets bottom out. Throughout 2012, FII’s have taken full advantage of the absence of the domestic retail investor from equities. They have been…
Delisting was the most preferred choice among companies where the promoters held above 76% stake. When a decision had to be made to either delist or lower the promoter stake below 76%, most companies leaned towards delisting. The merits of having a public listing seemed to be inadequate to deter…
Diwali was a quiet affair on Dalal street. Unusually, the markets fell on the mahurat trade. Investors seem more unsure than ever about which was the sentiment will swing. The usual gyaan from the market wizards did little to investor confidence. So, why are investors fighting shy of equities? Are…
Quick Edit: JIT, Just in time is a brilliant idea that captured the imagination of the manufacturing space. But, when applied to equity investing, the outcomes are mostly disastrous. Why do we say this? JIT works well only when you exactly know the right time to possess something. Investing doesn’t…
Investor perception often gives unmistakable hints of things to come. When most investors believe a particular asset class or investment simply do no wrong, it actually would go wrong. The consensus is often the worst tool to make decisions. This is because it takes too much time to reach a…
Quick Edit: Scams, crony capitalist exposures across the political spectrum, lack of faith in politicians, nameless companies holding hundreds of crores of investments, land becoming the preferred instrument for personal aggrandizement by politicians – the mood of the nation can’t get any worse when fingers start pointing right at the…
Quick edit: What can take the markets above its previous highs? This question is bothering even the die-hard bulls as they search for positive reinforcement. Earnings expansion must improve if markets must scale their previous highs. Given the weak growth, it is not going to be an easy climb for…
Quick Edit: This week inspiration comes from the proverbial tortoise. Why do we say this? The race is all about how we pace it. A Bull Run is after all a race to outlier returns. How we pace our investing is very critical in the current context. Here is our…