A load of crap from an idle brain » nse

Life Updates – 2

Liju Philip — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 14:26:18 +0000

Attending the ISMS Lead Auditor course from today. Course will run till Monday. On the last day is the certification exam. Hope i can pass. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Work is too hectic. Been more than a week into the new position. Lots of responsibilities and lots to learn. Challenging no doubt, but happy that Iam learning a lot. Been stuck in the rut for some time now. Took this leap of faith and till now, its been pretty satisfying.

The markets have been on a roller coaster. Up one day and down the next 2 days. Havent had time to look at my portfolio which has been red when i saw last week. Not thinking much about it. Bought some good companies (i believe) on the dips and i will now wait for the market to go up. There are indications that it might go down further. No worries. Will wait for it to go up.

Meanwhile, the cricket world cup is in full flow. India is now on the top of the table, but had just one challenging match (against England). The match against South Africa this weekend will be the one to watch out for.

Meanwhile reading a lot of finance / investment books. Am in the process of making changes to my career and life in general. As and when significant changes happen, i will update here. Till then, let things drift.

There was a time when i had trouble reading one book. Today, am simultaneously reading 4 books, 2 magazines and books related to the course iam attending. Not to mention technical documents related to work. I cant believe that i have time to do all that. Wifey hasnt had any complaints that iam not spending time with her. In the past few months, have gone to the Zoo, Bird Park, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore Science Center and a few other places with her. More places here in Singapore to explore. Wanted to go overseas for a holiday, but am waiting for some time for me to get settled into the new job responsibilities.

Time isnt a hindrance if one plans properly. Earlier, i was too lethargic. This year of the rabbit has been too good for me already. Hope the luck stays. I need it. Have a lot to achieve this year.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
- Robert Frost

A big thank you and wishes to all the women who have touched me in some way and been a part of my life. Thanks a million. Wishing the best on the centenary celebrations of the International Womens Day – 2011.

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Blood on the floor

Liju Philip — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 06:33:41 +0000

What a change a few weeks can do in the life of a stock market. At the begining of the year, there were predictions of the BSE Sensex reaching 24,000. Post the battering that the markets have received in the past 2 odd weeks, it would be great if the markets can come back to 21,000 levels.

Of course nothing can be predicted about the future. The market conditions might become better, the Egypt political crisis might be solved, the companies could come out with better results in the next few quarters, the government might get tough on graft and a few politicians & their crony businessmen might end up in jail.

BSE Sensex performance in the past 1 month (courtesy: Yahoo finance)

Meanwhile, some of the best blue chip stocks and companies with strong fundamentals have been beaten down 20-40%. This is another of the great time for a fence sitter to invest. I have done too.

Bought a few stocks of Sintex Industries, Punjab & Sind Bank, Kanoria Chemicals, Noida Toll Bridge and averaged out the badly battered stocks of MIC Electronics & 3I Infotech.

At the end of last year sold off Suzlon Energy, Reliance Communications (my worst investment ever. I would never buy any Anil Ambani companies again) and Punj Lloyd (another laggard not only on the stock market, but also in business). I had sold them off for a loss. It would have been a bigger loss if i had held them on as all 3 of them have been beaten down very badly.

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Equity Updates – November 2010

Liju Philip — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 04:58:44 +0000

Sold off some of the laggards like Suzlon, Reliance Communications (not sure how the 2G scam will hit this stock) and Punj Lloyd (holding on to a bit of the stock).

Bought 3I Infotech & Noida Toll Bridge for the first time. Increased my holdings in Graphite India & MIC Electronics.

With the 1:1 bonus shares issued by Dabur & TVS motors, the portfolio looks good

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Is Coal India, Reliance Power Reloaded?

Liju Philip — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 08:20:05 +0000

The BSE Sensex was around 18000 when Reliance Power came out with its IPO in February 2008. The crash that followed the listing brought the markets down to around 8000. It was the bloodiest bloodbath i ever experienced as an investor in the market. I took that opportunity to buy a lot of good companies at ridiculous prices; and raked in good profits when the markets bounced back a year later.

More than 2 years later, we are staring at a similar situation. The markets are hovering close to 20500. The Public Sector Unit, Coal India is set to come with its mega 15,000 crore IPO. The markets are at their all time highs. The pundits have been predicting a cooling down for some time now.

Will we see a correction again post the Coal India IPO launch? Am watching from the sidelines to pick up some good bargain.

Above images courtesy: Topnews

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Investing Updates

Liju Philip — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:04:18 +0000

Been a while since i updated my equity portfolio. Some of the stocks were already at their highs; and i felt it was appropriate time for me to liquidate them and invest in others.

Bought the following

Sold the following

Hoping for the markets to correct sharply once the much expected double dip recession hits the US economy. There would be lots of great bargains out there then.

Above stock price history courtesy: Yahoo Finance

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Finally….

Liju Philip — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 04:36:52 +0000

3 years of hard work…all for this. Got my MBA convocation certificate. Yay.

Next whole week i will be on course. After that, a few more certifications…maybe.

Few additions to the blog including my portfolio on the right. Also the latest BSE / NSE and stock prices updated in real time. Was sick of logging on to different websites to check for the stock prices. So, put up all of them here on this blog.

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Changes, Updates & Anniversaries

Liju Philip — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 08:04:42 +0000

Its been a year since i moved this blog to my own domain. Didnt realise till the other day when i was searching something about my domain and found that it was to expire in a few days. That’s when i remembered about a mail i got from Justhost explaining that since i have hosted my blog with them, they will continue to renew my domain name for free.

The past year of hosting has been really wonderful and the guys at Justhost have been a great help. Havent had any downtime of this website. Touchwood. On the 24th of this month, i would have completed 6 years of blogging. When i started, i never realised that i would last so long. Moving to my own domain has taught me a lot of things about hosting and stuff. Hope to blog till there are news which will prompt me to comment. And i hope such news never stops.

Meanwhile will start writing more about finance and investing as these are the interests that i plan to pursue further. I started investing in the Indian stock markets in 2005 for fun. TCS was coming out with its maiden IPO and i applied for it. That was my first ever investment in equity. I had been investing in mutual funds before that through Systematic Investment Plan (SIP). I was allotted 7 shares of TCS for around Rs 850 each. I sold them off a few months later around Rs 1250. I tasted blood and havent looked back ever since

After reading Equitymaster for a few years, I signed up for their service and till now they have given me superb advice on stocks to pick up. I have seen few people complaining about the advise provided by Equitymaster, but for me their advice has mostly been positive. On an average, 8 out of 10 of their recommendations have worked for me. And i would advise anyone to subscribe to them. Its surely not cheap, but they have lots of small options that you can subscribe for. Their reports are comprehensive and constantly updated.

Sometime in future, i plan to write the NCFM exams of the National Stock Exhchange and also get certified as a Certified Financial Planner (CFP). Those are my long term plans.

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The markets are falling, what are you doing?

Liju Philip — Thu, 27 May 2010 03:17:06 +0000

The stock markets have been on a free fall for some time now ever since the Greek debt crisis blew up. The Euro has been going down vis-a-vis the US dollar. The dollar has been gaining in strength even against gold. Does that mean all is hunky dory and that all the problems are over with the US dollar and the American economy? No. Whenever there is a crisis in the world economy, the money takes a flight to the US dollar. And that’s what we are seeing now. It doesnt mean that all the weaknesses inherent to the dollar have vanished

The situation now is mirroring the famous words said by some great soul “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed is the king“.

So, what does this crisis mean to people who want to invest for the long term? Its the ripe time to buy. Dont pump in all your money at once. Buy good companies in small quantities. The market might go down further from here. Buy some now and some more when the markets go down further. Never try to time to market. The markets might not go down further from here, and if you buy now, you would have still got some great stocks for cheap.

Am a big follower of Warren Buffett when he says “Buy when there is blood on the streets“. It might not be complete mayhem now, but there are some great companies available for cheap.

I have bought a few more shares of the following companies

I really hope that the markets fall further so that i can pick up some more good stocks at some great prices.

Important Note: Please dont follow my buy/sell advise blindly. Do your own research or follow the advise of a certified financial planner before investing. Iam not responsible for any profits or losses you make by following my investment strategy.

Above price charts courtesy: Yahoo Finance

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Zooming 100%

Liju Philip — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:26:59 +0000

What a recovery it has been for the markets. Just a year ago, the Sensex crashed to 8160 points. Now its trading above 17000 points. More than 100% growth in just a year. No other sector (gold, PPF, debt, realty) would give you that kind of growth. When the markets were down last year and i was talking about the opportunity to buy into some good companies, many of my friends dissuaded me from doing that.

“Buy when everyone sells and sell when everyone buys” is probably the only way to make money in the market. Following the heard mentality is sure to give a lot of heart pain in the long run.

The exhilarating bounce from the lows that the Indian equity market touched on 9 March 2009 is now a year old—and what a year it has been. These 12 months have been a wildly profitable time for those brave souls who held their nerve and bought stocks, while it has been a missed opportunity for those who thought it was a short-lived bear market rally and thus preferred to sit on cash.

The benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index, or Sensex, closed on Tuesday at 17,052.54, up 109% over a year ago, though just about nobody believes the next 12 months will be as good.

Read the full article here

Above picture courtesy: Livemint

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New Investments Page

Liju Philip — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 07:42:13 +0000

I have always wanted to have a new page for my investments and its tracking. So, this was long pending wish, fulfilled. I have added another page to the site called “Investments“.

Have tried to put up a pictorial representation of the logos of all companies invested. Have a few things in mind which i want to work on. As of now, its all fuzzy. As things clear up, you will see more information on companies, investments, economy, movement of stocks and stuff on that page.

Since my biggest hobby Movies , already has its own dedicated page, it was time my second biggest interest, Investments also had its own page.

More as time goes by.

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