Monday, May 18, 2009

Rupee raises


Immediately after the market soar over 2100 points in a single day, the rupee also followed suit and strengthened a whopping 150 paise to reach 48 against the US dollar.

The domestic currency opened with a big gap of 92 paise from its previous close and then later appreciated further. This gain is on the back of the clear electoral verdict as many FII's would be attracted to invest in this country.

The foreign exchange market saw active trade in the early morning. The local stock market were shut down as it had reached the upper circuit. It went up by 2000 points. 

The strengthening of the rupee is bound to have an impact on the Indian IT stocks. Its better to stay away from all the technology stocks for now. Expectations are that the rupee will reach 45 per dollar very soon. This is bound put some pressure on the IT industry.

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Markets create history

Markets have stopped trading for the day as the benchmarks hit the upper circuit as soon as the trade resumed. The upper circuit was breached twice in the same day forcing the markets to be shut. The first upper circuit was reached in 15 seconds which forced the markets to close for an hour. The second time it opened the upper circuit was reached in 17 seconds forcing the markets to close for the day. This has happend for the very first time that two upper circuit was reached on a single day. Upper circuit and lower circuit is kept so that the market doest move up or move down to quickly.

The markets crossed the 14k mark. The markets went up by 2100 points on a single day. This has happened mainly due to the elections results that were announced on saturday. The results shows signs of a stable government headed by congress. With no other party gaining significant number of seats the day to day activites will be completely controlled by a single party. 

Markets had previously worried that gains by smaller regional parties would weigh on the already large fiscal deficit. However, despite the strong support to the UPA government from voters, it is likely to have a tough job in bringing back the economy back on track.

So what should investors do in such a market. It would be adviced to stay away from it till the markets settle down. However, this is a good time for traders. They couldnt play a big role today as the market was open only for a couple of minutes.

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Sunday, May 17, 2009

Stock Market Investment Strategies - when to sell a stock

Lets say you to bought a stock at, Rs 50. You see it climb to Rs 100. The greed in yourself makes you cling onto the stock instead of selling it. And ultimately the stock reaches Rs 40 from Rs 100 in no time, before you can change your decision and sell it.

Investor are attracted to the stock market due to their greed and the sole purpose of making quick money. It makes us think that a rising stock will climb further. But until you sell, the increase in the value of the stock is only on paper.

The decision for the investors to make is to buy the stocks at the right time and sell it when it is at its peak. Even investment analysts and fund managers admit that finding the right time and price is very difficult. Here I present some of the guidelines that can help you in making the decision.

  • First off, accept that it is almost impossible to sell the stock at its peak. When you sell, there will always a few more that you could have made. Accept this fact and be happy with the profit you made, as greed inevitably leads to costly mistakes. If your stock takes off then it's time to do a reality check. Is this a reasonable increase because the business fundamentals have improved that much? If yes, keep the stocks and your cool. If not, you're probably looking at a bubble. Get away from this stock immediately. Surely you may think that you didnt make slightly more profit, yet you should feel happy that you didnt have the stock when it will take a beating in the coming days.
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  • The best strategy would be this "If you had no shares, would you buy some at the current price? If yes, stay put or buy more. If not, sell and cut back your losses." This should be done at particular intervals of time to re-balance your portfolio.

  • Whenever you buy a stock maintain a target price at which you will sell the stock partially or fully. When the target price of your stocks has been reached, taking a selling decision is easy.

  • By having a stop loss trigger you sell a stock, not to book profits, but to minimise your losses. A stop-loss sell order is a contingent order that will get triggered only if the stock does fall to a particular price.

  • There could be fundamental reasons why you should think of selling the stock that you have long owned. It could be a sudden about turn in the company’s financials or prospects

  • Whether it is a bull phase or a bear market rally, there will always be stocks in your portfolio that merit selling or replacing with other options.

  • Booking of profits is should be your aim as it leaves you with liquidity, which can be handy when there is an opportunity to buy.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Indian Elections

The final phase of the one month long elections concluded yesterday. The exit polls, the ban on which was lifted yesterday after the final phase of elections started giving their verdict on the elections. Most of them predicted around 200 seats both for UPA and NDA. They need 272 seats to form a government. Unable to find a clear winner and hopes of a stable government dying the market slumped today.


The results of the elections will be declared on May 16 i.e. on saturday this week. Since both alliance are short of the majority they would scramble with the smaller regional parties to establish a government. Since nobody would like another elections anytime soon a government is sure to be formed. The longer it takes for this to happen the more the economy will be affected. This will surely have its toll on the share market.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Problems for DLF

DLF is now facing more problems. Just last week it announced that their profits are down by 93% this year. And now the IT department has slapped a 400 cr notice on the India's largest real estate company. The real estate developer plans to challenge the government’s order. DLF shares fell 0.45% to 244.9 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, eventhough the Sensex rose by 1.37% on Thursday. The additional tax outgo will put the company in a difficult position. Recently, DLF had exited from the 9,300-acre Bidadi Satellite Township Project near Bangalore. Today, the Bangalore city corporation, has issued a public notice against investing in DLF’s proposed complex in bannergatta road, bangalore. These are some difficult times for DLF.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

market updates

Today domestic markets have with a huge positive gap of over 500 points along with the majority of Asian which opened with phenomenal gains on the back of positive cues from US markets and the long weekend previously for the Indian market. The market was closed on las week on Thursday(elections) and Friday(May day).

However, political uncertainty, with polling for India's 15th Lok Sabha underway, say see some volatility in the market for a couple of weeks. Increasing oil prices also pulled along with it the energy shares prices and fresh economic data suggested that the key parts of the economy could be stabilizing. For traders this is a very good time to exit many stocks and may re-enter after a a couple of days. For investors, the first bull rally is not the right time to re-enter the market.

It is a good opportunity to exit shares like DLF which announced last friday that its profits decreased 93% from the last year. DLF updates

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Saturday, May 2, 2009

slowdown hits DLF badly

The current economic slump has hit DLF Ltd, India's largest listed real estate firm very baldy. It reported a 93% slump in quarterly profit. The property prices tumbled and it sold fewer homes and office buildings space in an economic downturn. DLF said that its consolidated net profit fell to INR 159 crore in its fourth quarter ended March from INR 2,177 crore a year ago. This is surely going to have huge impacts on the Indian economy which has shown little effect of the global meltdown.

In a quarter that saw demand evaporate in all segments, residential and commercial, sale and leasing. Revenue fell by 69% to INR 1,350 crore from INR 4,370 crore.

While residential demand is expected to improve, the outlook for the commercial business continues to remain weak. This has forced DLF to launch more mid-income housing projects in Kochi, Bangalore and Hyderabad, among other cities, and divest stakes in some hotel projects to generate liquidity in the current fiscal.