Monday 29 October 2007

Tata Teleservices

TTML looks like a good buy right now and can go upto 55-60. It moved smartly today and was up 9.83%.

CMP: 47.50.

Sunday 21 October 2007

What is Short Selling?

What is short-selling?

Short-selling, in the context of the stock market, is the practice where an investor sells shares that he does not own at the time of selling them. He sells them in the hope that the price of those shares will decline, and he will profit by buying back those shares at a lower price. In India, there is no prohibition on short-selling by retail investors. Institutional investors —domestic mutual funds and foreign institutional investors registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), banks and insurance companies — are prohibited from short-selling and are mandatorily required to settle on the basis of deliveries of securities owned and held by them.

How is short-selling beneficial?

Short-selling is considered an essential feature of the securities market not just for providing liquidity, but also for helping price corrections in over valued stocks. Supporters of short-selling claim its absence distort efficient price discovery, gives promoters the unfettered freedom to manipulate prices and favours manipulators than rational investors. Securities market regulators in most countries, and in particular, all developed securities markets, recognise short-selling as a legitimate investment activity. The International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has also reviewed short-selling and securities lending practices across markets and has recommended transparency of short-selling, rather than prohibit it.

Are there any drawbacks of short-selling?

Critics of short-selling feel selling, directly or indirectly, poses potential risks and can easily destabilise the market. They believe that short-selling can exacerbate declining trend in share prices, increase share price volatility, and force the price of individual stocks down to levels that might not otherwise be reached. They also argue that declining trend in the share prices of a company can even impact its fund raising capability and undermine the commercial confidence of the company. In a bear market in particular, short-selling can contribute to disorderly trading, give rise to heightened short-term price volatility and could be used in manipulative trading strategies.

Will institutional investors in India be allowed to short-sell securities?

Sebi is working on a proposal to introduce a stock borrowing and lending mechanism. This will allow institutional investors to short-sell by borrowing shares. Under this arrangement, an investor A, who feels that a certain stock is overpriced, borrows those shares for a charge from investor B, who is willing to lend those shares. Investor A then sells those shares in the market, hoping that the price declines so that he can buy cheap and return them to investor B.

What is the difference between covered short sales and naked short sales?

Covered short sales are those in which the seller arranges for the delivery of shares he has sold by borrowing them. Naked short sales are those in which the seller does not intend to provide for the delivery of shares he has sold. Most international securities market regulators have prohibited naked short-selling and require the client to have documentary evidence of borrowing/tie-up with lenders before executing the sale transaction. This is because naked short sales in huge quantities can destabilise the market.

How does the stock lending and borrowing mechanism function in other markets?

World over, securities lending and borrowing transactions are, by and large, over-the-counter (OTC) contractual obligations executed between lenders and borrowers. International securities market regulators do not directly regulate the lending and borrowing transactions. In many international markets, entities like custodians and depositories run the lending and borrowing scheme and have their own screens for meeting the demand and supply of securities from their clients.

Source: Economic Times

Bottomfish in this market?

Should you be lapping up good stocks at the current levels? Markets have corrected by almost 8% in the last 4 trading sessions. Most of the good stocks have been down between 10-20%. Should you then buy in the current market? Indiabulls Securities’ CEO Divyesh Shah says, “If you are holding a good stock in your portfolio, keep it. It is not advisable to bottomfish in these markets. From what we see now, volatility is so high, it wouldn’t take even five minutes to wipe out a sizeable portfolio. Maintain status quo would be my advice to clients,” Mr Shah added. I agree with this sentiment completely. Unless the FM gives some clarity on the P-Notes issue the uncertainty might continue with FII selling off majorly. But there is a strong argument against this as well. Since the fundamentals are still the same this is only a short term blip and investors can use this opportunity to pick up stocks from a long term perspective.

Saturday 20 October 2007

Stocks plunge on economic fears

DOW has its biggest sell off of the year.

Udayan Mukherjee's Analysis of the P-Notes Issue

"The stock market reaction to the P-note draft is unambiguous. The Finance Minister may wish it away by ascribing it to rumours but all of us know the real reason for this selloff. Every investor fears that our market could be robbed of the big dollar trigger if this draft were to become law. The fears are not unfounded. While the regulator and the Finance Minister have been glibly proclaiming that P-notes have not been banned, the product has essentially been killed. Sure, small shuffles and marginal flows can happen but the P-note is history, if this draft were to come through.

The genesis of this whole move is the rupee. On that score the Finance ministry should have all our sympathy. The rupee is a problem for the country. At this rate it will kill many industries, render lakhs jobless and may have deep economic ramifications. No Finance minister can want that. Yet, this is an inevitable fallout of a rapidly growing economy. The solution cannot lie in controlling flows of global capital into the stock market. It starves the engine of growth and sends out the most regressive signal to the world. Even if it is done, as in this case, under the guise of seeking more transparency.

If it had to be done, the more elegant way of doing it would have been to decide a sunset period and allow P-note investors to register themselves during this period and transition. Instead, they are seeking to bring the product to a dead halt before forcing global funds to register. This is perhaps reflective of the desperation to cut flows now and stem the rupee's rise. The ministry is aware that India is very hot now and if the window is left open for another six months, the seasonally strong October to February period, the market could be inundated with flows. The dollar rupee could go for a toss, with it, exporters. So, the more reasonable expectation is that the draft becomes law, BUT with important modifications. Maybe the 40% of AUC clause is revisited, hedges allowed for P-note investors in stocks, relaxations made for IPO applications through P-notes etc. The sting needs to be taken out but even so the world of P-notes and hedge funds will perhaps never be the same again.

The trillion-dollar question is how the stock market digests this and moves on. Of course, that depends a lot on the final contours of the draft. If it is implemented in its current form we may have a difficult six-month period for the market. No new flows will come in through a window which accounted for over half of all FII flows and the constant threat of eventual and gradual unwinding will hang like a Damocles’ sword over the markets' head. Not conducive conditions for outperformance. This is a medium-term technical handicap which the market will get over but it may take a while. Technical constraints may restrain bull markets but don't generally alter their course altogether. We are still in a very strong bull market; make no mistake about that. The emerging market dream run has just begun; it is nowhere near peaking out. In such an environment, new highs will come again for our market. If this P-note business works out to a reasonable conclusion, then we will probably have it soon, if not we will have to wait till the technicals improve. This is not to undermine the importance of the current draft; it may deal us a structural technical blow for a few months, something which may even spark off a deeper correction and relative underperformance. Let’s hope the regulators will not push us beyond a point. Sense should prevail."

Source: Moneycontrol

Thursday 18 October 2007

Stock Markets Today

Almost 1000 points down in a day!! As per a report investors have lost over Rs 2.7 trillion in the last 2 days!!! Almost all the major stocks have corrected in the range of 10-18% from their day's highs. This has mostly been on account of funds selling off on account of uncertainly on political front. Now we can only wait and watch and see what happens tomorrow. Let's hope for the best!

Stock Tip: Neyveli Lignite

This stock looks like a good long term bet. Ashwani Gujral has given a target of Rs 150 for this stock in the short term. Analyst Sudarshan Sukhani is also of the view that this stock should be accumulated on dips and should be kept for long term.

CMP: Rs 133

Stock Markets today

Markets are up today on account of heavy buying seen in sectors like Telecom, Capital goods, oil and gas, reality stocks etc. The markets have not only recovered yesterday’s losses but touched new highs today.

Tuesday 16 October 2007

Investment pick: Punj Lloyd

I gave recommendation of Punj Lloyd on 10th of August when the CMP of this stock was around Rs 275. Currently the stock is trading at Rs 390 levels i.e. almost 42% return on investment in 2 months!!!

Now a number of analysts have given a buy rating to this stock including Mr Sudarshan Sukhani. India Infoline has also come out with a buy recommendation on this stock on 15th October.

Monday 15 October 2007

Sensex at 19K: What to do now??

Who would have believed if somebody said that sensex would close at 19K 4 days ago. But that is exactly what has happened. Sensex closed above 19K today to close at 19058.67!! But what should people like you and me do at this point? Should we invest more in
stock markets at this point or sell or adopt a wait and watch policy. I think it is a good time to take a long and hard look at your portfolio. Stocks that have given you consistent returns need to seperated from the ones that have been rolling just in this bull market. Now the risks are a lot higher so you need to careful and not over invest. I think profit booking to some extent, atleast the trading bets, would be a good idea. Who said stock trading or investment was easy?

Sunday 14 October 2007

Friday 12 October 2007

Stock Tips: Infosys

I think you can buy Infosys at the current levels (CMP Rs 1929) for a target of Rs 2250-2350. This stock is a good investment option at the current price.

Mastek

Mastek was up almost 25% on the news of board approving the buyback of shares from the open market. The maximum buyback price would be Rs 750. Currently the share is trading at Rs 380. I had given this tip when the share was trading at Rs 291. More than 30% profit in 15 days for those who had invested in this stock.

Thursday 11 October 2007

Sharekhan Recommendations

Sharekhan has given buy ratings on the following stocks

SBI with a target of Rs 2282. CMP is Rs 1944
Sun Pharma with a target rating of Rs 1287. CMP is Rs 969

Idea Cellular

I had given recommendation for Idea cellular when it was trading at Rs129. The CMP of this stock is Rs 143. Today Rajesh Jain of SMC Global securities and Mehraboon Irani of Darashaw & Company have given a target of Rs 155-160. The general advice is to remain invested in this stock from a long term perspective.

Bad day for IT

Infosys results for this quarter have generally disappointed the markets resulting in a bad day for IT stocks in general. Infosys crashed by almost 7% today and closed at Rs 1976. Satyam lost about 8.5 % today and closed at Rs 448. All the sectors were up today except for IT. The major factor contributing towards this downfall is obviously the rising rupee. In this calendar year rupee has appreciated by almost 11%. Considering that you can imagine the kind of impact it will have on the IT Company’s financial numbers. Infosys alone has lost almost Rs 2000 cr because of this appreciation.

Wednesday 10 October 2007

Infosys

Some market experts have given a target of Rs 2300 for Infosys. What becomes of this stock in the short term will become clear tomorrow when Infosys comes out with its quarterly results. Technology sector is looking quite positive in general, more so becase almost all of them had hit their 52 week lows. I personally like Satyam quite a lot. It has risen quite smartly from almost Rs 300 levels a few days back to Rs 370 today. BTW, I had given a tip for Satyam ... :-)

Reliance Petroleum

Anil Manghnani hold the view that Reliance Petroleum can touch Rs 189 if it goes above Rs 176. This does not come as a surprise to me considering the pace at which Reliance stocks have been moving in the very recent past. Reliance Energy touched its 52 week high again (no surprise there again!) at Rs 1624 on reports that its subsidiary Reliance Energy Transmission has bagged a project worth Rs 2000 cr. Anybody investing in stock market should at least have one Reliance stock in their portfolio otherwise its not worth it!!

Stock Tips: 3i Infotech

Stock market trading tip: 3i Infotech is a very good stock investment option in the mid-cap IT space. They have very good growth prospects. The financial year 2008 guidance is at Rs 1000-1100 cr in revenues which means 53-68% yoy growth and profits of Rs 145-155 cr i.e 39-48% yoy growth.

Tuesday 9 October 2007

Air India IPO

Air India is reported to be coming out with an IPO to offload 15% of its stake after completion of its merger with Indian Airlines. The parent company will be called National Aviation Company of India Ltd (NACIL).

World’s Richest

The combined wealth of Mukesh and Anil Ambani is about $ 91 billion, making them the richest in the world, as reported by Economic Times. They have taken over the Walton family, who controls 39% stake in Wal-Mart and is valued at about $71 billion. And all this is thanks to the booming stock markets of India.

Yatra Online IPO

Yatra Online, the online travel services company may file for an IPO next year.

Reliance

Ashwani Gujral has given a target of Rs2750 for Reliance. All Reliance stocks are currently touching their 52 week highs!! He also thinks that Reliance Energy can touch 1600-1650

Sensex above 18K!!!

Today was a historic day for India stock markets where the Sensex closed for the very first time above 18K mark. Bulls were not marred at all by the political uncertainty making one of the biggest intra day gains. It took market a total of 8 days to move from 17K to 18K.

Power Grid Corporation

As per S P Tulsian, Power Grid can touch Rs 115-120. He is quite bullish on this stock. As per him this is a good investment stock and puts it in the league of NTPC and IDFC which can give you a 20-25% returns very year.

Monday 8 October 2007

Official Apple iPhone Commercial - How To

I Just like this phone :-)

Consolidated Construction IPO (CCCL IPO) Allotment Status

You can check CCCL IPO allotment status here here

Koutons Retail IPO Allotment status

You can check your application status here

IFCI

CMP: Rs 77. This is a good price to buy this stock. This stock has fallen almost 25% from its peak of Rs 105 in the last few days. Once the news of bid formalises I think this will again be in the front liners.

Satyam

Satyam has been doing well since last 3-4 trading sessions. It has gone up by almost 7-8% in that period.

Anil Padia is of the view that from the current levels it has a target of Rs 520 if it crosses Rs 460 and maintains that for at least a couple of days.

Opportunity to buy stocks?

Is this an opportunity to buy stocks 5-10% cheaper? Yes, as per Market expert Gul Teckchandani. He says "Do not stay off because people like us will use this volatility to our advantage. A lot of people have been saying that this is because of the political environment. But then you have to also explain why in the morning the market was up about 200 points. I think the momentum counters are taking a hit. You have to select where you want to be invested, hunt for your own companies, and use this kind of a downslide where you are getting stocks on an average between 5-10% cheaper, if you believe in the companies," he added.

Anil Padia, Director, Kedia Shares & Stock Brokers, feels investors should use this correction to buy. "Since we are in such a big strong bull market, I am not expecting the markets to correct much although it may come down to 16,650 and that would be a good level to buy. The markets could remain in a 16,650 to 18,000 range this month," he added.

IT stocks

Heavy selling has been witnessed across the board today but IT stocks seem to be doing well. Satyam gained 2.62 % today, TCS was up 2.04%. iGate solutions was a star performer today. It touched a high of Rs 273, up almost 9% today. Technical Analyst, Vijay Bhambwani is of the view that IT stocks are likely to move up from the current levels.

Markets today

Sensex was down today majorly on account of political uncertainly with the ruling party hinting at mid-term elections. About 561 shares have advanced, 2435 shares declined and 45 shares have remained unchanged. Metals, banks and reality stocks have been hard hit. At one point market was down nearly 400 points or over 2%.

IFCI

It was another bad day for IFCI. It lost almost 9% today. It has gone done my about 20% in the last few trading sessions. Many analysts still hold the view that IFCI is a good long term buy.

Sunday 7 October 2007

Stock Investment: KS Oils

KS Oils at the CMP of Rs 72.50 is a very good investment option. The recommendation has been given by Mr. Deven Choksey. His advice has been based on the company's future growth potential, both organic and inorganic, change in business practices and strategies and on future business plans.

Stock Market Trading Tip

E Mathew has given the following short term targets for GMR Infra and Cairn India

GMR Infra: Target of Rs 230 with a stop loss of Rs 170. CMP Rs 173.

Cairn India: Target of Rs 202 with a stop loss of Rs 175. CMP: Rs 180.

Saturday 6 October 2007

Birlasoft

Birlasoft, the software division of the C K Birla group, is planning to come up with its IPO mid next year.

Birlasoft used to be higly dependent on GE for its business which was about 80% 2 years ago of its total revenue. Currently it is about 48%.

Oil India IPO in offing

Oil India is planning to come out with an IPO early next year in January-Feburary to raise upto Rs 2000 crore by off-loading 10%

Sops for Exporters

Government has announced relief measures for exporters who have been hit hard by the appreciating rupee including refund of service tax on three additional services, provision to pay interest on exchange earners foreign currency accounts (EEFC) and an additional Rs 300 crore for Vishesh Krishi and Gram Udyog Yojana.

Rekindled optimism

A very positive employment report pushes US stocks up. US employers added 110,000 new jobs last month.

Friday 5 October 2007

L&T PPL

Larsen and Toubro (L&T), the largest engineering company in India has floated a new arm, L&T Power Projects (L&T PPL)

L&T Power Projects (L&T PPL), a new venture of Larsen and Toubro (L&T), the largest engineering company in India was launched recently. This allows them to foray into the booming Power generation business. This is a JV between L&T PPL and Japanese electrical giant Toshiba shortly for setting up a turbine manufacturing facility.

L&T closed at Rs3090 today which about 6.7% higher from yesterday’s closing price.

Market review

Ashwani Gujral is of the view that there will be no deep correction in the markets. This is a “pause” and markets are moving in a range. Each dip in the market is couple with aggressive buying. So there is nothing to suggest that markets are heading for heavy corrections.

IFCI

IFCI has corrected quite a bit in the last few trading sessions and i think 90 and below is a very good price to enter this stock.

CMP: 88.65

Power Grid: Good stock for Long term

PN Vijay, Portfolio Manager believes that Power Grid is a good stock for long term investors. Even at the current price of over Rs 100 he recommends a hold.

Listing of Power Grid Corporation

As I had said before that Power grid was expected to list around Rs 80 and above, it opened today at Rs 85!!! Currently it is quoting at about Rs 104.95.

Power Grid Corp. handles about 45% of power generation in India, making it the largest central transmission utility.

Thursday 4 October 2007

CESC

Ashwani Gujral has given a buy tip for this stock today. He has recommended a target of Rs 625 with a stop loss of Rs 490.

There has been a block deal of this stock on BSE - 10 lakh shares at Rs 578 per share. It is currently quoting at Rs 557.95, 3.11% higher than yesterday's closing price. It had jumped by about 6.5% in yesterday's rally.

Suzlon Energy

Suzlon Energy is quoting at its 52-week high of Rs 1636 right now at 13:19. This is on account of the news yesterday which was reported on this blog.

New Fund Offer (NFO)

Tata Indo Global Infrastructure Fund - a NFO from the house of Tatas is open for subscription. It is a 3 years close ended equity scheme, which will be converted to open-ended scheme after maturity. This looks like a good investment option as the currently running Tata Infrastructure fund is doing pretty well and they have experience in this sector.

The offer closes on 16th October 2007.

Wednesday 3 October 2007

IFCI

Ashwani Gujral is of the view that one should buy IFCI on dips. He has given support levels of Rs 85-88 and target of Rs 120.

IFCI closed today at Rs 96.35, down by almost 4%.

Suzlon Energy

Suzlon Energy has bagged a 150MW order from DLF. The stock was up 3% today on account of this news and closed at Rs 1548.

Reliance Power IPO

Reliance Power IPO

Reliance Energy has finally filed the DRHP (Draft Red herring Prospectus) for Reliance Power’s IPO with SEBI.

Ashwani Gujral on DLF

Ashwani Gujral holds the view that DLF might hit the 4-figure mark soon. This has been the strongest stock in its category. With interest rates softening reality sector can lead the rally!!

Markets Today

Today has been quite a dramatic day for the markets. Markets opened on highly positive note and almost touched 18K levels and then suddenly nose dived, going below 17200 levels. It then peaked again and finally closed at 17873.41. Sensex is surely heading towards 18K but with huge amounts of volatility. Next few days are certainly going to be very interesting!!!

Mastek

Mastek touched day high of 325 today, up Rs 31 i.e. 10% from its yesterday's closing price.

Tuesday 2 October 2007

Stock Tips: Buy Mastek

Mastek Ltd is in the process of a major restructuring exercise. This is in order to bring their costs in control and, if all their plans fit together, is due to take off in a big way. I think this is a good time to invest in this stock.

CMP: 291

Apply for Maytas Infra IPO??

The general view is that this issue is expensive. As per S P Tulsian, it is better to avoid this IPO. But experts also agree that it is a good bet for long term investment. So don’t expect fireworks on listing!!

Power Grid Corporation

BSE Script Code: 532898
NSE Symbol: POWERGRID

IPO Listing Date: Friday, October 5, 2007
Issue Price: Rs 52/-

This is expected to list around 75-80 and above.

Monday 1 October 2007

Chennai gearing for one of its biggest land deal

Stocks dip at quarter's end

Watch this video on how US stocks and economy is doing.

Telecom Licences

It seems to be a boom time for Telecom!! Omaxe, Hinduja TMT and HTMT have all applied for a telecom licence for all the 22 circles.

Reliance Energy

Price of this share has increased by almost 18% in the last two trading sessions. This has mostly been on account of the upcoming IPO news of Reliance Power, a 51% subsidary of Relaince Enenrgy.

Hotel Leela

Ashish Kapoor, CEO of Investshoppe has given a target of Rs 75 for Hotel Leela Venture. I gave this recommendation when the price of this share was Rs 44.

CMP: 51.70

Reliance Natural

Ashwani Gujral has given a buy recommendation on RNRL for a target of Rs 135. Stop loss Rs 75.

CMP: 93.70

Marico

Sharekhan has maintained its BUY rating on Marico. They have given a target of Rs70.

CMP: 60.90

DISCLAIMER: The author is not a registered stockbroker nor a registered advisor and does not give investment advice. His comments are an expression of opinion only and should not be construed in any manner whatsoever as recommendations to buy or sell a stock, option, future, bond, commodity, index or any other financial instrument at any time. While he believes his statements to be true, they always depend on the reliability of his own credible sources. The author recommends that you consult with a qualified investment advisor, one licensed by appropriate regulatory agencies in your legal jurisdiction, before making any investment decisions, and that you confirm the facts on your own before making important investment commitments.