This is the archive of all articles and analysis related to the nature of stock market risk and reward
What connects Narayan Murthy, Sudha Murthy and Nandan Nilekani? Well apart from all other things not participating in Infosys recent share buyback as a promoter is the common thread between them. They probably did that because the taxation landscape for share buybacks in India underwent quite a change from October 1, 2024, which fundamentally changed…
Continue reading →A reader says, “You often say we are the victims of our experiences. Can you please explain what you mean by this?” A discussion based on a recent interaction with a full-time stock trader. We often equate experience with wisdom. Sometimes, it is accurate, and sometimes not. What is always true (in my “experience”!) is…
Continue reading →In his new book, Same as Ever, Morgan Housel says, “A good summary of investing history is that stocks pay a fortune in the long run but seek punitive damages when you demand to be paid sooner.” “Consider a long stretch of history, from 1871 to 2018. During that period, the odds that the US stock…
Continue reading →We list the 2023 calendar year returns of 180 indices. (different asset classes, different geographies, predominantly Indian). Total returns have been used where possible. Note: The list is only meant to serve as trivia. It should not used to make investment decisions! Winners here may turn losers after we start investing in them! The year…
Continue reading →In this article, Vijay discusses guidelines on how to build a direct equity portfolio. This is the second part of the series. The first part is here: How to build a direct equity portfolio – Part 1. About the author: Vijay is an electronics engineer and management graduate (IIM Bangalore). He has worked as a…
Continue reading →In the first of a two-part series, Vijay discusses how to build a direct equity portfolio. About the author: Vijay is an electronics engineer and management graduate (IIM Bangalore). He has worked as a technical expert in the automotive industry for the last 25 years. He has an active interest in subjects related to macro…
Continue reading →Two readers recently asked us similar questions. One asked, “Is it possible for the Indian stock market to again go through 10 years of poor returns?” The reference is to the ten years of a sideways market after the Harshad Mehta scandal broke. For details, see: (a) Sensex at 50,000 & lessons from the 42-year journey (b) Sensex…
Continue reading →This article analyses the historical Nifty 50 portfolio over the last ten years (Oct 2012 to Sep 2022). This data is not available or free on the NSE website, so we use the portfolio history of Nifty BeES ETF as a proxy. Eighty-four entities have been part o the Nifty 50 over the last ten…
Continue reading →It is common knowledge that the Japanese stock market (often represented by the Nikkei 225) has been underwater since December 1989. That is, it kept falling (excluding minor recoveries) for about 23 years until later 2012. Since then it has seen a recovery. Many investors have asked us, “can this happen to the Indian stock…
Continue reading →In this article, we look at how 200 indices representing the stock market, bond market and other asset classes performed in 2021. This is measured with 361 days absolute return from 1st Jan 2021 to 28th Dec 2021. Note: The following information should not be used for making investment decisions. Past performance is not an…
Continue reading →Neeraj asks, “Dear Pattu Sir, are we in the middle of the biggest bull run in the history of the Indian stock market? If we look at the market momentum since March 2020, it seems to be the sharpest increase ever seen. Can you please let me know if I am right?” When I first…
Continue reading →Sunder asks, “We all know that equity returns in the last financial year or last annual year were excellent. Does this mean we should mentally prepare ourselves for poor or even negative returns this year?” The 97% returns mentioned in the title refer to the NIfty 50 TRI movement from 23rd March 2020 to 23rd…
Continue reading →In this article, we compare the returns of the Sensex Total Returns Index with the S&P 500 Total Returns Index in INR since the inception date of the Sensex, 1st April 1979. The analysis stems from a comment on our YouTube channel that said the S&P 500 would have easily beat the Sensex over the…
Continue reading →If you are actively following the financial news nowadays, you might have read that ‘US Bond Yields Rising’ and that this is causing the volatility that we see currently in the Indian Stock Market. This article will try to understand what US Bond Yields are, why they are rising, and how exactly it affects the…
Continue reading →HDFC Bank has been a favourite investment for a lot of investors in the Indian equities – be it Retail Investors, Fund Managers, FIIs, or DIIs. And, with good reason too. HDFC Bank has outperformed almost every bank in India in terms of stock price performance. An analysis. About the author: Arjun Budhraja is an…
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