Budget Week

Tomorrow is the big budget and for traders best is to stay out till the event is done and dusted.The high crude oil prices do not leave too many options for Pranab Mukherjee. Expect a hike in excise duties, hike in Service Tax to 12 pc from the 10 pc. He would increase the exemption limit on Income Tax from 1.6 Lakhs to 2 lakhs given that the polls are round the corner.The chart for the week is of the difference between 5 EMA and 20 EMA it has give...

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Budget: Whats in store?

The Union Budget is round the corner. Its the usually stuff, where the TV channels will go crazy over analyzing the statements of the Finance Minister. I did a statistical analysis of the budgets since 2001 and markets. I have also tried factoring in what could influence Pranab Babu as he goes about making the Union Budget.1. There are elections in 5 States including Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry. Expect a populist budget...

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Planning for Retirement

I had done a guest post for Subhankar.Do you remember what you did with your first pay/payment cheque? (Haven’t received your first cheque yet? What are you doing on this page!) Did you blow it up having a good time with friends and family? Why not? You don’t remain young forever. There is a long and bright future ahead of you – and plenty of time to save and invest. Right?Nishit doesn’t think so. He started planning for his retirement as soon as he received his first pay cheque. He wanted to use the leverage of compounding over his entire working...

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Technicals for the Week Ahead

The markets have been in a free fall over the past few weeks and a lot of portfolios have taken a beating. The entire rise from 5350-6339 has been retraced and we are having some serious corrections. Lets look at some technical parameters.1. The entire up move from 4786 - 6339 has been retraced almost 76 pc. This means that eventually 4786 is likely to be broken, as very rarely do markets retrace 76 % and then bounce to take out the previous highs....

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Real Estate Investing in India

I had a detailed chat with a very dear friend of mine just now and we had a very animated discussion on Real Estate investing in India. I feel Real Estate investing ranks very low in the asset class of investments and one should limit oneself to investing in the place one stays and maybe another home only when investments are done in other asset classes.The various Asset classes one could invest in are:1. Equity2. Debt3. Gold4. Real EstateThe advantage of Equity, Gold and Debt investments are that one can liquidate the holdings in maximum 1 week...

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Is it all Doom and Gloom?

The markets closed down 2.1 pc for the week. The Market has closed below its 200 EMA for about 7 days. This is the longest it has closed since the whole Bull Market began in March 2009. Now, what are the implications of all this for all of us?1. Fixed Deposit Rates have climbed back to 9-10 pc. This makes Equity Markets with its current volatility not a viable option. The Yield on the Nifty is 4.83%. (Inverse of P/E). A 10 year government security gives us 8.24%. This implies debt instruments are more attractive then investing in the markets.2....

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