War of Words

BBC did a wonderful job at gathering recent speeches of our leading politicians viz Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal and making a word cloud to highlight the topics or issues these leaders have been shouting about in their speeches.

Don't think you'll need to pain your ears (and brains) on any other speech of theirs.

Narendra Modi

Rahul Gandhi

Arvind Kejriwal

Weekly Market Commentary - Apr 21, 2014 - Apr 25, 2014

As country made progress through election and earnings season, there is bound to be volatility in both main street and dalal street expectations and sentiments. As our elections have become more personality driven, our benchmark indices are also seeing activity specific to some stocks only. Whether the country or the markets will rise above the personality or stocks cult and will broaden its horizon will get clear only after elections are over and there is some clarity on what kind of leadership we are going to end up with.

Earnings results disappointments and MET warning have already made clear that we are not out of woods yet, and time has come for us to re-check our growth assumptions and turnaround hopes.

Sensex ended this week up by 0.3% while Nifty was flat and Midcap up by 0.7%

Monday - Sensex up by 0.6%, Nifty up by 0.6%, Midcap up by 0.8%
Benchmark indices rallied to their record highs led by surge in banking stocks ahead of their expected stronger results this week. Mining stocks also got relief from SC order to allow mining up to 20mt of iron ore per year in Goa leading to a bit of rally there. AstraZeneca India rose by more than 4% after the Sunday Times reported an expected bid of its parent company by Pfizer Inc for an estimated £60bn.

Tuesday - Sensex, Nifty and Midcap all ended flat
Sensex and Nifty rose to their record highs during the day but ended almost flat at the end of trading session as monthly derivative expiry advanced to Wednesday. Thursday is holiday for exchanges due to general elections voting in Mumbai on that day.

Wednesday - Sensex up by 0.5%, Nifty up by 0.4%, Midcap flat
Markets were in cheery mood on the day of derivative expiry as both Sensex and Nifty hit record highs for a third session in row. Indices were led by gains in infrastructure and banking stocks on hopes the worst was over in terms of deterioration in asset quality.

Thursday – Markets closed as Mumbai goes to polls for General elections

Friday - Sensex down by 0.8%, Nifty down by 0.8%, Midcap down by 0.1%
Key market indices took a beating on last day of the week as heavyweights such as ICICC Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Cairn India etc disappointed with their results. The earning shocker has sent the investors double checking their growth assumptions. MET department also worsened the sentiment after predicting lower than average rainfall this year.

Weekly Market Commentary - Apr 14, 2014 - Apr 18, 2014

Two steps back and one forward. That is pretty much how I will describe the action on Dalal Street this (short) week. IT stalwarts - Infosys and TCS reported better earnings but gave contrasting guidance, hence making sure the sector stayed volatile during the week. Throw in a bit of inflation and you have investors in every sector running for the corners. The thing about rallies built on hope and hype is that they don’t need much to fizzle. Remember, no matter how big the bubble is, you only need one small pin to burst it.

Sensex and Nifty ended the week at pretty much the same level as last week while Midcap down by meagre 0.2%

Monday – Markets closed on occasion of Baisakhi / Ambedkar Jayanti

Tuesday - Sensex down by 0.6%, Nifty down by 0.6%, Midcap down by 0.9%
Markets were down as inflation raised its head again and soared to three-month high figure of 5.7% in March - dashing hopes of any rate reprieve from central bank. Almost all interest rate sensitive stocks fell while IT stocks surged on the back of good earnings reported by Infosys.

Wednesday - Sensex down by 0.9%, Nifty down by 0.9%, Midcap down by 0.8%
BSE Sensex corrected another 200 points as fear of rising inflation was stoked by the predictions of below normal rainfall this year. IT stocks fell as Infosys guidance pointed to weak outlook for the sector. Retail inflation also rose in tandem with WPI to 8.31% in March, largely driven by higher food prices also made investors cautious.

Thursday - Sensex up by 1.6%, Nifty up by 1.6%, Midcap up by 1.5%
Benchmark indices roared back as banks surged on value buying and hopes of bond portfolio gain as RBI fully sold the Rs.200bn debt it had on offer. IT stocks also rose as TCS and HCL reported better than expected earnings with positive future revenue guidance.

Friday - Markets closed on occasion of Good Friday

An open poem to "stupid" nature

Hat tip: Alpha Ideas