Bonus Declared in Past few Days

Source: Flash News Vol. 24 No - 02; Date April 14 2008

Split Declared in Past few Days

Source: Flash News Vol. 24 No - 02; Date April 14 2008

Dividends Declared in Past Few Days

Source: Flash News Vol. 24 No - 02; Date April 14 2008

Positive Stories in Agri Commodity Sectors

This is a micro theme market where one needs to discover niche ideas and ride on them for good gains. At the current level, long-term investors can take exposure to the rate insensitive sectors like FMCG, Pharma and Telecom for their defensive appeal. They are also not exposed to moderation in global growth. In addition to these sectors, there is some positive story building up in the agri commodities sector. Many enquiries have been made for the agri commodities companies by many foreign institutional investors and even domestic funds are expected to launch agri-based funds.

Are We Asking The Right Question?

Is the bull market over? Is this a bear market? When will the market bottom out? Is the India story intact? How severely will inflation and interest rates impact growth? How long will it take for the US to sort out its mess? The questions are many. And the effort is on to find answers to all of them. They are all good stuff for academic debates but hardly of any interest to a serious investor who perhaps have lost some of his investments in the ongoing market turmoil. The point is, are we asking the right questions.

Often many problems are solved by asking the right questions. To put it very bluntly, making money in the current market scenario has become difficult. It was easy and different earlier. We are no more in a situation where you pick up any stock which gives you returns. Today we live in difficult market environment where there are very limited ideas at the current level.

Market: Flat?

These days at Dalal Street, the nerve centre of Indian capitalism, there is hardly any exuberance. The mood among investors on the street is one of withdrawn. It is just 'flat'. When you observe the market these days, you find it up by certain points in one day, but on the very next day it is down by similar points. We have seen it happening day after day in the last couple of months. Call it a market devoid of any action worth its name and directionless. When will the market begin to rise consistently? That is the question that every investor wants an answer for.

Discussing the market mood I think volatility will remain and therefore, the prudent strategy would be to stay away from the market. The proposed strategy proved to be of some good although there has been some marginal upward movement in the Sensex. However, such a move could not offer a definite direction for the market. The extreme volatility levels have created confusion among investors. To say the least the market is jut boring. Because of the volumes being so low everyday you are under the illusion of a huge volatility of 400 points up or 400 points down in the Sensex. But essentially the market is doing nothing.

Prudent Strategy

Expect the market to remain dull for a few more day as no one would like to take exposure just ahead of the result season. In the past week, market has witnessed very low volumes and I feel the scenario to remain the same in coming week also. But in the coming week, investor-focus is likely to shift to the quarterly earning which will provide actual figures and could trigger the market positively. Hence, the prudent strategy for short term investors is to stay away from the market at the current level while long term investors can take exposure in a staggered manner to the rate insensitive sectors like FMCG, Pharma and Telecom for their defensive appeal. They are also not exposed to moderation in global growth. In addition to these sectors, there is some positive story building up in the agri commodities sector.