The Hindu Business Line : Sunday, May 02, 2004

2003-04: A year which rewarded risks
THE spectacular performance of Tata Motors in 2003-04 stands out in stark contrast to the way CEAT performed. Yet both these firms were exposed to high risks. For both these companies, a 1 per cent improvement in ... More

FII flows into mutual funds — Mid-caps set to benefit
FII inflow into mutual funds is good for the Indian stock market but not necessarily for the retail investor in mutual funds. He may need to scale down return expectations if mutual funds change strategy to suit the larger investors. More

Equity: The election effect
HOW equity prices pan out in the second half of May and the immediately succeeding few months in the homestretch to the Budget appears to now hinge on the contours of the new government. There is a degree of ... More

Time for the laggards to catch up
THE continuous rise of `risky' stocks in 2003-04 endorses the need for a business risk-focussed investment strategy when an economy is gathering momentum. The higher probability of economic growth assures sales growth ... More

MUTUAL FUNDS

Magnum Balanced Fund: Hold
SBI's Magnum Balanced Fund has sharply improved its performance over the past year with returns of about 90 per cent over this period. But the long-term track record is inferior to that of balanced funds such as HDFC ... More

SPOTLIGHT
HDFC Tax Plan 2000: Buy in phased manner
EXPOSURES can be considered in HDFC Tax Plan 2000, as the fund has an impressive track record. Investment can, however, be done in phases as it would enable investors to take advantage of any weakness in the broad ... More

Alliance Basic Industries
ENHANCED exposures to the oil, gas & petrochemicals sector and reduced holdings in two-wheeler and banking sector stocks are the prominent changes in the January-March quarter. Alliance Basic Industries has been on of the superior performers over ... More

DSP Merrill launches TIGER fund

Fund Talk

STOCKS

Maruti Udyog: Hold/Buy on declines
SHAREHOLDERS of Ltd (MUL) can continue to hold on to the stock at the current price of about Rs 544. Being the car market leader with a near 55 per cent market share, with a strong leadership position in the key A and B ... More

Adlabs Films: Hold/Buy on declines
SHAREHOLDERS can retain their exposures in Adlabs Films as there appears to be scope for gains over a one-to-two year period. Business Line had recommended a buy in September last year when the stock traded at ... More

Geometric Software: Buy
INVESTORS with a one-year perspective may consider an exposure in Geometric Software (Geometric) stock at the current price levels. Shareholders may also retain their holdings in the company. The stock trades at a ... More

Nicholas Piramal: Buy
INVESTORS can consider exposures in the stock of Nicholas Piramal that trades at about Rs 860. This represents a reiteration of the buy recommendation given on the stock when it was trading at about Rs 540 ... More

IndusInd Bank: Buy
FRESH investments can be considered in the stock of IndusInd Bank. Exposure to IndusInd Bank can be had preferably by buying into the stock of Ashok Leyland Finance, which is going to be merged with IndusInd Bank. Buying the NBFC stock can reduce ... More

Bharat Electronics: Buy
BHARAT Electronics' performance for the year ending 2003-04 was slightly disappointing at the net level due to the unexpected provisioning for employee benefits. The revenue growth for the full year ended March 2004 ... More

Hindustan Lever: Pare exposures
UNTIL 2003, Hindustan Lever (HLL) managed to deliver reasonable profit growth despite a stagnant topline. This appears difficult now, given that the company is relying on strategic price cuts and increased investments ... More

TAXATION

Dreams of car and house with retirement money

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

Reliance may seek lower levels
Wipro (Rs 1545.2): The stock ruled weak in line with the overall market trend. The recent price action indicates the possibility of a near-term rally. A move to Rs 1585-1600 appears likely. Remain invested with a stop-loss at Rs 1500. A ... More

Bearish trend to persist
Preferred view: The movement in the Nifty does not still provide any conclusive evidence of a near-term trend. The index is unable to close above the crucial trigger level of 1900. The trend last week was distinctly bearish. This has ... More

Focus of the week
Century Textiles (Rs 125.4): The outlook for the stock is positive. A move to the Rs 145-150 range appears likely. Remain invested with a stop-loss at Rs 105. Fresh buying may be considered with a stop-loss at Rs 109. A decline below Rs ... More

Query Corner

CARS

Hyundai Elantra: Strikingly different
HYUNDAI'S pre-eminence as a manufacturer of good quality cars despite the fact that many of the company's products are not good-looking in the conventional sense of the term is in stark contrast to market expectations of the past three-four ... More

Question `n' Auto

LIFE INSURANCE

Tata AIG's Secured Future Plan
IN case you meet with an accident or become disabled you will not be able to look after your family. In such circumstances, your family needs a regular income to meet monthly expenses. Tata AIG's new personal accident ... More

STOCK MARKETS

Bananas, stocks and arbitrage
A RECENT news report stated that traders take advantage of the arbitrage opportunities between the NSE and the BSE. What is arbitrage? Suppose bananas are priced at Rs 50 a dozen in a wholesale market. You notice that ... More

DERIVATIVES MARKETS

Preference for puts in pivotal stocks
IN a week marked by a sharp decline in equity prices, traders showed a preference for put options in pivotal Nifty stocks such as Reliance Industries, ONGC, Tata Steel and the actively traded Satyam Computer underlying. Despite impressive ... More

How orders are watched
THE Futures and Options Trading system provides a fully automated trading environment for screen-based, floor-less trading on a nationwide basis and an online monitoring and surveillance mechanism. The system supports an order-driven market ... More

Futures guide

Options guide

Using Futures/Options

FOREIGN BANKS

ABN Amro's CreditLine
THERE is nothing more comforting than to know that you can have cash when you need it. And we are not talking about ATMs here. In an emergency, there may be no time to apply for a personal loan. And while a credit ... More

FIXED DEPOSITS

Pricol: Stick to it
THE fixed deposit programme of Premier Instruments and Controls (Pricol), a Coimbatore-based engineering company, is open for renewal only. The company's fundamentals are strong and the interest rates offered are quite ... More

INTERVIEW

`Mid-caps continue to be viable'
He has been around for 10 years now. The funds that he manages are among the top performing ones across various time periods. Importantly, these funds are also among the largest in the business. Meet Mr K. N. Sivasubramanian, star fund manager ... More

PUBLIC OFFERS

Vishal Exports Overseas: Avoid (Risk averse)
RISK-AVERSE investors can avoid investing in the offer for sale by Vishal Exports Overseas, given the high business risks and volatile earnings that characterise the export-import trading business. Through this offer ... More

BOOKS

Optimists can fail
LARRY Williams's Long-term Secrets to Short-term Trading, published by Wiley (www.wiley.com), has been around for sometime now. Yet, for shy investors and doubtful traders, Larry's work has much to offer. ... More

CARTOON