Fast food for thought!

Hey folks i know its been long since i have written something. But being avid follower of Warren Buffet, i follow what he said once - " Be greedy when everybody is fearful and be fearful when everybody is greedy". Yes markets are at 30 weeks high so everyone is greedy out there on D-street and "trying" to mint money. Hence i am fearful and away from Mr. Market. (Ofcourse i was greedy ["and i minted money"] when everyone else was fearful before!!). So am having some spare time at hand and hence i've decided to generate some E-waste ;)

So to start with here it goes -
Today i would like to discuss on most talked about correlations existing in market. I am presuming that people reading this blog are having meagre knowledge like me. So 1'st i would get some ground work done and then we will take off.
Basics -
1. Let us suppose 1$ = 45 Re . Now if i say that Re strengthens then this means Re appreciates / Dollar depreciates / Dollar weakens hence now 1$ = 40 Re. Strenghtening of Re adds to bottomline of importers and strenghtening of dollar adds to bottomline of exporters.
2. Gold and Crude oil almost move in same direction unless OPEC intervenes because both are global commodities. But crude oil is more liquid [ both in absolute sense and trade sense ;-) ] and hence more volatile than gold. Hence you can interchange gold and crude oil in coming lines.
Correlations -
a . GOLD
USA being super power, general economic position of USA largely sets the trend for gold/crude oil.
1. Hence weakening dollar (weakening USA economy), rising inflation, lower yields/interest rates, tumbling stock markets sets the perfect stage for gold. As all these factors lead to investment in gold.
Thus long US$ = long Dow Jones = short gold/crude oil.
However as such there is no general correlation of these things with gold per say.
2. But ha one thing is definite - when things are in bad shape then gold becomes safe haven to invest and hence gold prices always surge in bad times.
Post Lehman fiasco - gold rose around 23% in one year!!
Thus when things become dull, go and invest in yellow metal - GOLD.
b. Bond prices -> Interest rates /Inflation -
1. In strong economic condition - consumption increases - inflation increases - SO interest rates are increased (deliberate) to curb the purchasing power of people and hence curb inflation.
2. Also if interest rates in India falls then FII's borrow money from Indian markets at lower rate and move out of India. So demand for ruppee falls and hence Re weakens/dollar strengthens and vice versa.
c. Dollar - Rupee -
1. If interest rates in India are set to rise to control liquidty/inflation then FII's will borrow from world markets at lower rate and deposit in India at higher rates. In this case rupee outflow / rupee demand will increase and so rupee will appreciate / dollar will weaken [ this is live scenario in current Indian market ]. This is benefit to importers and exporters will be at recieving end.
d. Equity market -
1. Higher the inflation - higher is the trade in equity markets to beat inflation. In India in year 2008, inflation reached to levels of 11% and so equity markets also scaled new highs.
2. If interest rates are set to rise then equity markets will tumble as people will moved to Fixed income securities.
Point 1. and 2. are linked like -> higher the inflation - interest rates will be increased - equity markets will slow down.

Summing up -
Rise in inflation -> increase in interest rate -> more dollar deposits in India -> rupee strenghtens/dollar weakens -> importers benfit/exporters lose -> markets slow down/tumble -> Gold appreciates.

NOTE - I am a student and hence contest my views if i am wrong at some point but appreciate me if you feel what i have written has done some value addition on your part !!
I hope i have served the purpose in crisp and simple way.





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No one knows!


There is one famous Chinese story.Here it goes:-
Once upon a time there was a farmer X in small village.He had a single horse.That horse also ran away one fine night.All villagers came to give condolences and said to farmer X that it was sheer stroke of bad luck.Farmer X replied-Who knows?I will Keep moving as before.Soon after there was some disease broke put which affected working potential of all other farmers' horses.All villagers said to farmer X-Good luck.Farmer X replied-Who knows? I will Keep moving as before.Soon after some more days farmer X's horse returned and he was disease free.All villagers said to farmer X-Good luck.Farmer X replied-Who knows?I will keep moving as before.After some more days batallion came to village and took farmer X's horse as it was disease free.All villagers said to farmer X-Bad luck.Farmer X replied-Who knows?I will keep moving as before.
Who knows??
On same lines is unfolding of budget- a mega economic event.High amount of speculations on new policies being roll out,ammendments in old policies etc. and markets keep moving in tandem with these speculations till actual budget is rolled out.
Ultimate loser is trader who tries to ride this tide by trading on every speculation!!He ultimately just becomes a puppet in hands of speculators!
Like this year also the speculation is that Finance minister will be able to chart out the path for 8% GDP growth.But pulling out on stimulus,scrapping off the oil and fertilizer subsidies' partially,stringent policies to tackle fiscal deficit,rise in excise duty are all on cards. So growth of GDP at 8% seems questionable.
But then other school of thought is that after China only India can become big time feeder for western economy post downturn.So budget will consist of policies to leverage on this very opportunity.This may include positive surprises on 3G,MNP,GST,PE-VC funding etc.
So finally markets are heading to...no one knows.
So plain vanilla advice given by big time analysts' are:-
1)Markets do tank on uncertainty as humans do.
2)Resist the temptation of trading before any big event.When in doubt stay out!
3)In case of mega event like budget be Reactive and not Pro-active.
4)Hold your nerves and Never sing until you win!

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New Exchange Timings!!!


People in Exchange have not welcomed the move of SEBI to extend trading hours by 55 mins from new year.People like brokers,sub-brokers,mutual fund,foreign investors have all voiced together that Extended trading hours will put pressure on back-office operations.

The main objective of extending the trading hours on Prima facie was to capture on volumes which Indian bourses lose due to early start of SGX(Singapore Exchange Ltd).But there was ban on participatory notes to trade in Nifty futures a year back so volumes plumetted.But now this ban is uplifted.Also volume on SGX is around 6% in value terms compared with NSE's volume(daily).Also SGX starts at 6:30 am indian time so starting Indian bourses at 9:00 am won't serve the purpose!!

Also one more objective of Extending trading hours was to be in "Sync" with Global markets.Given the present timings this is possible for Asian and European Markets but even if trading hours are extended till 5:00 pm it won't be possible for to open with American Markets(open at 7:00 pm).

So objective is yet unestablished of being in resonance with all the breaking news!

But every problem has a solution and so there exists a problem(GYANN).

Solution:-We can take learnings from Chicago Mercantile Exchange(CME).CME is open for almost 23 hours for few products.The World's largest exchange,splits the day in two trading sessions.1'st Session-8:30 am till 3:15 am. 2'nd Session:-3:30 am till 8:15 am!!!!!!!!! HUUHHHH....

Now don't they(CME) face problem of Back office and Infrastructure???
Yes they "DID" but not now.As they follow a simple policy of -Settling the trades of 1'st session on that very day and trades of 2'nd session are settled on very next day!!! And slowly and simultaneously develop the Infrastructure!Tough one but start can be made.

Conclusion:-The step taken by our National Exchange on prima facie is good but then some policy should also be rolled out to address problems arising out of it.

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Opportunity knocking??


With Nifty shooting up 150 points and India setting mammoth total of 414 runs in one day match v/s Sri lanka,we can conquer more "New Peaks on this Flat world!!"This is how :::----

Debt ratings in India are given by private rating agencies.They are one of most sanctitiful agencies and are highly honoured.But still with recent economy fiasco,some eye brows have raised! Debt market is bigger than any other market in India with very low retail participation, so it calls for some attention.

Now suppose Government itself becomes rating agency and that too mandatory then things might turnaround.Turnarounds might be:-

1) Like faith of people(common man) in debt instruments will increase.

2)Due to mandatory Government rating , the private rating agencies will become more strict in giving ratings.Quality of ratings will improve.

3)Due to double filtering, proportion of failures will fall.

4)Government will be able to earn income out of fees and generate more employment which in turn will increase with Debt markets rise.


(Business Opportunity:-This can be used by ruling Government as revolution and will add to their quality work and help them to get another new term!!

They then can claim to Left parties also that UPA is not only about Privatisation!!)


Conclusion:-This might sound too unrealistic but if worked on then it can turn out to be good option!!

Debt market is saying instead of-"Abuse me" -----"Ab use me"!!


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Lagaan!!


It is always in recession the famous debate topic spurts that "Personalized profits and socialized losses is the way Capitalist class works!!" And then soon the fire spreads and this topic goes for different stage shows like it becomes GD topic for most of B-schools,on Media channels.in Newspapers etc.So i will not be touching the general thought process of presenting the points For and Against the Topic. However Being Capitalist is only best alternative if customized in particular way.

Life as Capitalist way:-

1)Municipal gardens and public places should no more be public but rather made private property.So now people throwing garbages,spitting on walls can be made to pay for this colourful act by Capitalist owner.Because when its Private then owner takes responsibility of maintaing highest level of hygiene and cleanliness.
2)Vendors should start charging for poly-ethene bags so that consumer will value poly-ethene bags and plastic waste will be under check!
Same has already been implemented by Government by ban on public smoking i.e protecting lives of Passive smokers by penalizing.
Ban on plastic bags in some circles is other example.
Mandatory PUC checks is one more example.
So keeping morals,ethics aside if we give monetary incentive or penalty then we can save on all front effortlessly!!

Parallel example is Carbon Credits where we converted biggest threat of carbon emission into biggest opportunity by changing it to business model of carbon credit!!
So Capitalism,the modern day Lagaan is the way to go!
End of Post.

And now comes the Bizzare:- Laxi and Party went for movie called "London Dreams".This is not Bizzare,the bizzare is without taking any review into account the Mr. Gentleman(Laxi) audaciously went and enjoyed the movie.Thus his Risk gave him Returns and his balance sheet as usual got balanced in terms of Risk and Return!!

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Weird Price Index(WPI)!!


Inflation rate in India is calculated using WPI method.WPI stands for Wholesale Price index.But in most developed nations inflation rate is calculated using CPI method.CPI stands for Consumer Price Index.
In WPI method prices of only selected items are taken into account alongwith prices of manufactured products,oil,lubricants,light etc.But in CPI method only those goods which are directly accountable for consumers' expenditure are taken into account.

Composition of WPI:-
1)Food items constitute around 15.2% in WPI.So now even though in recent times food prices have surged by 15-20% and prices of pulses by 60%, yet rise in inflation is marginal.
2)Manufactured products make for around 64% in WPI.Now as recession has just started to cooloff so prices of manufactured products have started to slide at slow pace.This same thing is getting reflected in headline inflation!!
Manufactured products include items like Base metal prices,tobacco,leather,beverages,textile,rubber,miscellaneous.
Inflation for this month is between 0 to 1%.
3)List of items taken into account for calculating WPI and their weightage in WPI index is not updated since 1999-2000.

So though consumer is directly paying for rising food prices majorly but is still finding inflation rate to be falling!!
So now Govt. is thinking of CPI or atleast to change weightage of items in WPI.
Conclusion:- Title of the post!!!

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IF Dollar Collapse continues..


There was "Open-outcry system" prior to Stock Exchange establishments. This system was then replaced by more organised,wider system known as "Regional Stock Exchanges". These Regional exchanges were then replaced by even more wider,organised and demutualised Exchange known as "NSE" and "BSE". If this development continues then we may soon have WWSE(World Wide Stock Exchange) for all countries together! A wild idea.
Now on same lines if the fall of Dollar continues and Indian markets continue to surge then we may sometime see the equation as
Re 1=USD 50 and not as USD 1= Re 50.
What impact this will have:-
Re 1 = USD 50:-

1)Brain Drain will be from USA to India and exams will be GRE with TOHFL(Test of Hindi as Foreign language).We will have AIT(American Institute of Technologies) and AIM(American institute of Management) instead of IIT & IIM.

2)Now passouts from AIT & AIM will vie for jobs in Indian Industies.We will come across Software industries with names like "KeshavRao-MadhavRao Consultancy Services".

3)The most acclaimed car would not be BMW but our true own Premiere Padmini Fiat.

4)Instead of Oscars, the most coveted awards will be Manikchand sponsored "Film Fare Awards".

5)No more public display of higher status by owning USA made goods but higher status will be in owning Indian made goods. Our very own Vada pav will be over Burger. "Mumbai Pav-Bhaji over McDonald".

6)Foreign author books will be replaced by Indian author books.Nokia,Samsung,Sony will be replaced by BSNL,MTNL.

7)Line will be outside USA visa office for Indian visa.People will try their luck for "Harra Patta" & not "Green Card"....
But this blog & its content comes with title "IF...."

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