CRR hike bad news for stock & bond markets, economy

Posted by Kavit Sharma on 18 Apr 2008 | Tagged as: Business News - India, Retail investors, Stock Markets

The RBI move perhaps has changed the financial landscape quite significantly. All markets will react on Monday, but there is considerable surprise at what the RBI has done, in changing the CRR and the repo rate.

It is very bad news for markets. It is almost certain that stock markets and bond markets will both sell off on Monday morning. Being led by the rate sensitive sectors, Markets are in for a blood bath on Monday morning because this has come as a surprise, particularly because the markets were expecting that rates might actually start cooling down in the end of April as inflation cools down but the RBI has not even waited for its monetary policy meeting.

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Retail Investors - Strategy of investment

Posted by VK Sharma on 14 Apr 2008 | Tagged as: Expert cues, Retail investors

Indian economy is a growth story which can easily go on for a minimum 10 years at an annual growth rate of 7.5-10%. This period is an enormous opportunity of earning through investments in equities. An investor is primarily concerned about the safety of his investments and maximizing his returns. These two are contradictory to each other, for high gains go hand in glove with high risk. However, a return of 20-25% per annum on your investments in equity markets is a reasonable expectation at little or no risk provided one follows the basic principles of investment elucidated below:

  • Invest in companies whose P/E lie within 50% to 150% of overall market P/E with EPS of Rs.5.00 or higher for the last three consecutive years and a market cap of at least 1000 crores.
  • Always have a diverse portfolio of 4-5 sectors with 2-3 companies in each sector.
  • Be with market leaders of a sector.

In a large list of sectors such as oil & gas, energy, engineering, textiles, information technology, sugar, construction, infrastructure etc., it is important to make the right choice of preferred sectors.

Presently avoiding IT, textiles, exports etc. because of likelihood of rupee appreciation and slowing down of developed economies, is advisable. Shunning cement, oil & gas, sugar, fertilizer stocks is sensible as they are subject to government controls.

Infrastructure, power, construction, capital goods are the engines of growth and should be high on list of preferences. Real estate sector has been lagging behind all these years and is due for a lot of catching up and will grow at a rapid pace.

With crude prices rising and limited resources of all conventional energy sources, alternatives like wind power, solar energy, ethanol etc. will be in great demand. Investments in virgin fields of Logistics, Retail, Healthcare and Health insurance have stupendous growth potential in the coming decade. Prosperity will fuel up demand for banking, consumer goods, hospitality, tourism, media and entertainment industries.

Sensex closes 350 points higher after wobbly start

Posted by Kavit Sharma on 28 Mar 2008 | Tagged as: Stock Markets

Ignoring higher than expected inflation figures and on account of heavy buying and strong European cues, the Sensex closed 350 points higher for the week.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex closed at 16,371.29, up 2.22 per cent or 355.73 points.

Day’s high: 16,452.08 & Day’s low: 15,884.45.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty ended 2.31% or 112 points higher at 4,951.55.

Day’s high: 4,970 & Day’s low : 4,796.35.

Top gainers : Tata Steel (up 9.96%), Infosys Technologies (6.54%), Wipro (6.02%), Larsen & Toubro (5.95%) and BHEL (5.25%)

Biggest losers : HDFC Bank (down 2.77%), ONGC (1.31%), HDFC (0.96%), Tata Motors (0.95%) and Reliance Communications (0.92%) .

Mid-caps still the best performers

Posted by Kavit Sharma on 22 Mar 2008 | Tagged as: Stock Markets

Despite losing a lot at the bourses and continued uncertainty about their stock market performance, the mid-cap group has recorded the best results for the quarter ended December ’07.Companies in the sales group of Rs 100-200 crore and Rs 200-500 crore have posted maximum growth in profits.

On other hand , companies in the sales group of less than Rs 20 crore saw profit decline by as much as 64%, whereas Rs 500-2000 crore group saw a profit growth of only 0.1%.

It may be noted that top two sales groups, Rs 500-2,000 crore and more than Rs 2,000 crore, contribute nearly 60% of aggregate sales and 70% of profits