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Arth-Samvaad

Wealocity's musings on what's happening
Edition 1/Vol 10/Sept '17

Our Mid-Monthly Newsletter

September 21, 2017

Scary World, Calm Markets

Eurasia Group President Ian Bremmer says the world is facing “the most dangerous geopolitical environment” he’s ever encountered. But tell that to investors as stock markets rise across the world - even South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI index is up 19 percent this year. Despite a series of missile launches and detonating the most powerful bomb ever by the Hermit Kingdom, the southern neighbour and the world markets didn’t wither much.

The silver lining though is that trade to major destinations through the first 20 days of the month is on a tear, including a 40% jump in the value of shipments to the European Union, and a 36% increase in those to the U.S as pointed out by Bloomberg's James Mayger. One of the big themes of the year has been synchronized global growth: the notion that, basically for the first time since the crisis, all the big economic regions are showing solid expansion.

I know it’s boring to bring to notice the most obvious yet ignored. But are the current investors primed psychologically for a major decline in the stock market or are they likely to keep bidding up stocks for some more time to come? Those’re the critical questions. The only way to skip out of this mass psychology is through sticking to one’s investment philosophy particularly when the peer pressure is at its peak.

A campaign ad released this week shows the chancellor as a young East German girl along with the slogan “For a Germany where anyone can realize their dreams.” The picture is a reminder of how Merkel remains her party’s central asset even after 12 years in power.  In the wake of protectionism across the world and especially in the Euro region, Merkel’s re-election would infuse a fresh lease of life.


Godspeed,

   

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ArthSamvaad

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Copyright © Wealocity, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
dreams@wealocity.com

Disclaimer: All the views expressed are strictly personal and we recommend consulting your financial advisor for making any investment decisions based on your risk appetite, timelines and goals.

Monthly Market Commentary

Wealocity's perspective on market happenings
Monthly Market Commentary Sept '17

The Infy saga


Indian corporates are not outstanding at corporate governance but certainly Infosys had a better perception among the investor community and is badly hit with the Sikka vs Founder tiff. To bring a perspective, MF industry held investments of Rs.21,285Cr in this stock as on 31st July '17 as per NAVIndia. Out of the 782 equity schemes, Infy was part of 421 schemes with the stock among the top 5 holdings in 222 schemes and is the top holding in 19 schemes. There was pressure to bring Nilkeni on board to set things right ASAP.



Marking the Markets


In the graph of NIFTY (Jan'96 - Jul'17) the green line represent the returns on a yearly basis where the biggest annual return is in the year '08-'09 when the Sensex delivered a stupendous return of almost 80% while in the very previous year the returns plunged to negative 53%. The least volatile year i.e. 2015, the volatility (orange line) was about 19% but the annual return was a negative 5%. This doesn't help us to conclude that every lower volatile year yields to lower returns.
What we infer from this graph is that one shouldn't rely on past performance while investing and a systematic investment helps to counter the volatility.


The North Korea Conundrum
It's futile for the US to exert pressure on China unknowing the history of the alliance. It dates back to the Korean war where the Chinese forces fought against the South (even Mao's son lost his life) and to cut ties would be more than over optimism from the US admin.
And the Chinese worry that any more stringent actions could lead to collapse of the regime, not a desirable outcome. Xi would be more worried if this could escalate in arms build-up in the region (Japan & SKorea) at odds with its policy
The Russian Probe
The relationship between the arch rivals has taken a further downward spiral with the accusations flying high about the Russian meddling of the US elections and the emails exposing incumbent family's involvement has co-mplicated things. Adding to the woes are the frequent attrition of WH staff.
These digress the current issues that need attention - debt ceiling leading to a possible govt shutdown, tax overhaul, response to hurricane Harvey, Irma, etc. derailing the nascent economic upturn.
The investor of today does not profit from yesterday's growth ~ Warren Buffet.
Equity
 
The MF inflows continue to surpass the older records which touched Rs.20,000 Cr in Aug alone. The structural changes of demonetisation and GST have contributed to a bit of contraction in the GDP than anticipated. There's been a significant dip in the manufacturing and stagnant services probably due to de-stocking, though a recovery is anticipated while a slight tax base expansion is already witnessed.
We continue to remain overweight on Equity though a staggered approach is recommended with a large cap bias. IT & Pharma continue to wander in woods while Infra seems to be attractive as a theme.
Debt
 
With RBI's intervention in currency markets along with tight monetary policy has resulted in greater FPI inflows. The industry and household credit remained low providing a headroom for further rate cut. 
 
Dynamic bond funds still suit investors with a longer time horizon due to their very nature of dynamism and flexibility. 
Alternates
 
There's been a growing interest in the investor community on the crypto/digital currencies. We continue to remain cautious despite the announcements by various countries. 
 
Investments in these could turn speculative and should be looked as such at this juncture. Greater penetration would surely entice Govts to take notice and could well restrict their growth. 

Copyright © Wealocity, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
dreams@wealocity.com

Disclaimer: All the views expressed are strictly personal and we recommend consulting your financial advisor for making any investment decisions based on your risk appetite, timelines and goals.

Monthly Market Commentary

Wealocity's perspective on market happenings 
Monthly Market Commentary May'17 

Monthly Market Commentary

“it’s not the things you buy and sell that make you money; it’s the things you hold.” ~ Howard Marks


It's been an eventful month. With domestic bourses touching new highs and entering uncharted territories, thanks to the unabated domestic as well as foreign fund flows, it's getting a bit jittery. India's share in the world m-cap rose to 2.7% above the LTA of 2.4% while contributing to a 34% m-cap change in the last 12 months. 

French Elections

Macron Wins
This is decisive and truly En Marche! beating the far right Le Pen; especially for Europe which is reeling from the Brexit decision.

South Korea

Moon Wins
This moderate leader's win is critical as it comes amid the North's increased shenanigans. He said that he wouldn't even shy away visiting North.

What's in it for you?

Equity
The markets always swing between fear and greed. Monies are made in between. Every and any small good news is like opium now for the stock markets. Is it a scenario of sell in May and comeback in September? Don't know, can't say. But, we're wary of the current levels.

India

On a High
We believe in risk to return strategy which makes us follow a disciplined approach that would capture most parts of the raging bull while protecting from the deep falls, thus outperforming in a full cycle. We continue to recommend staggered investments into equity with top-ups in falls.
Copyright © Wealocity, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
dreams@wealocity.com