Author: shyam

Weekly Recap: Passion is an affliction

NIFTY.2013-07-19.2013-07-26

The Nifty ended -2.37% for the week, largely fueled by RBI’s move to tighten liquidity to save the Rupee from “evil speculators.” IT was the best performing sector, benefiting, ironically, from the Rupee’s slide.

Index Performance

Index performance

Top winners and losers (CNX 100)

HEROMOTOCO +5.22%
TECHM +7.55%
IDEA +9.40%
JPASSOCIAT -15.93%
CANBK -15.43%
UBL -15.00%
In spite of Abhishek Bachchan’s endorsement, IDEA was the best idea…

ETFs

GOLDBEES +2.04%
NIFTYBEES -2.48%
JUNIORBEES -3.27%
PSUBNKBEES -3.44%
BANKBEES -3.52%
INFRABEES -3.77%
Banks continued to under perform and Gold was the only place to hide this week.

Advancers and Decliners

Market breadth was largely negative…

advancers decliners

Yield Curve

Short term rates continued to rise, putting a squeeze on rate sensitives…
yield curve

Sector Performance

Rate sensitives and cyclicles got trounced
sector performance

Thought for the weekend

I’ve had it with optimism. Optimism, at least US style, got us into this mess. It gave us 30+ years of indulgent parenting in which self-esteem was considered to be more important than skill acquisition, self-discipline, cooperation, and learning to cope with adversity.

Source: NakedCapitalism

Is a rate hike imminent?

Is the RBI going to surprise the market with a rate hike when it meets on July 30th? If past is prelude, then the RBI, having to deal with a lame-duck government, might just pull the trigger on this one. Consider what it did during the Asian currency crisis back in 1997/98 (courtesy Barclays):

asian currency crisis

If FII inflows don’t hold up, then they might just do this. Interesting times…

 

Weekly Recap: Nobody Really Understands Gold

NIFTY.2013-07-12.2013-07-19

The Nifty clocked in a modest +0.34% rise this week, largely driven by FMCG.

Index Performance

indexperf.2013-07-12.2013-07-19

 

Top Winners and Losers (CNX 100)

 

GODREJCP +11.88%
GSKCONS +13.49%
HINDUNILVR +14.05%
ASHOKLEY -14.61%
YESBANK -13.43%
INDUSINDBK -11.50%
FMCG stole the show while Ashok Leyland stock holders lost their shirts…

ETFs

GOLDBEES +0.65%
NIFTYBEES +0.50%
JUNIORBEES +0.22%
INFRABEES -1.00%
PSUBNKBEES -5.14%
BANKBEES -5.42%
Banks got hammered thanks to RBI’s liquidity draining actions to support the rupee…

Advancers Decliners

The A/D line continued on its downward trajectory…
adline2.2013-07-12.2013-07-19

Yield Curve

The yield curve inverted…
yieldCurve.2013-07-12.2013-07-19

Sector Performance

And the market went all defense…

sectorperf.2013-07-12.2013-07-19

Thought for the weekend

Mr. Bernanke, Fed Chairman: Nobody really understands gold prices and I don’t pretend to understand them either.

Macro Mashup

Note from JP Morgan:

Over the past 18 months, we have cut our 2013 EM growth forecast from 6% to 4½%. We continue to see downside risk with activity data tracking below our Q2 projections and no evidence of policies to reverse this slowdown. A number of EMs have inflation pressures and weaker currencies that require tighter monetary policies while wage pressures have eroded profit margins and thus corporate expansion. This slowdown has momentum. At some point, the EM slowdown could drag DM along.

em gdp growth foecasts

The EM equities have performed the worst:

em performance

And FII’s have been evacuating the bond markets:

fii em bonds

Credit Suisse: In India, foreign investors’ fixed income holdings fell sharply in June and continue to fall in July. We expect selling to subside and buying to resume in 3Q 2013.

Barclays remains bullish on the Rupee: While near-term depreciation risks remain, the INR has fallen significantly since early May, and in this context we expect the currency to appreciate against the USD over the coming year. We believe this will be driven by a narrower current account deficit and policy initiatives that can meaningfully ease funding concerns (ie, NRI bond issuance), as well as RBI rate cuts facilitated by relatively subdued inflation pressures. Despite the limited potential downside to USD/INR near term, the rupee is now 15% undervalued versus the USD, according to our estimates.

usd inr

Investors will do well to remember this titbit: When John Pierpont Morgan was asked what the stock market will do, he said “It will fluctuate.”

Weekly Recap: You Are Not an Artisan

nifty 50

 

The Nifty surged 2.40% this week, driven largely by Infosys and the IT sector in general.

Index Performance

Index performance

 

Top Winners and Losers (CNX 100)

 

MPHASIS +11.53%
RPOWER +13.36%
INFY +14.17%
GSKCONS -16.54%
MARUTI -6.86%
M&M -6.63%
Weakness in the auto sector dragged Maruti and M&M down. INFY was the belle of the ball this week.

ETFs

NIFTYBEES +2.33%
BANKBEES +2.03%
JUNIORBEES +1.70%
GOLDBEES +1.32%
INFRABEES -0.34%
PSUBNKBEES -0.85%
Banks perked up a bit and so did gold. It will be interesting to see if gold continues its uptick in the days to come.

Advancers Decliners (CNX 100)

AD Line

Yield Curve

Did short-term rates actually go up?

yield curve

Sector Performance

IT up, Autos down.

sectorperf.2013-07-05.2013-07-12

Thought for the weekend

If there is schlepping involved, it is more likely to be real work. If there are sexy elements involved, it is more likely to be conspicuous production pretending to be work. Sexy work is easy to enjoy, learn, value and integrate into your identity, primarily because it is downhill psychological work: it is the cognitive equivalent of muscular atrophy. Schlep work is harder to enjoy, learn, value and integrate into your identity, primarily because it is uphill psychological work for a social species.

Source: You Are Not an Artisan