Stock Market Blog by Amit Agarwal

Reliance Industries (RIL) buyback Update

Global Investment Banks downgrades India 2013 GDP forecast

EUR vs. USD - 5 Year Chart

Sell In May And Go Away - How true is the proverb?

Mark Zuckerberg Biography PDF - ebook: Download

White Paper on Black Money in India - Highlights

Cairn India, BOB and Godrej Consumer enters MSCI, Suzlon Out

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala buys RBS stake in Prime Focus

Undervalued beaten down stocks in Sensex and Nifty

Sell Reliance Industries 640 Put Option at Rs.3

NIFTY to face resistance at 5125 - 5160 levels

Countries with highest income tax rate of 50 percent

Implied Volatility of NSE Nifty Options - India VIX Index - PDF

Pipavav Shipyard's promoter stake pledge at 97 percent

Bharti Airtel Q4 2012 - 2013 Result Analysis

Barclays overweight on Bharti Airtel

Home Loan Calculator with EMI Comparison Feature

Peter Lynch Quotes PPT / PDF: Free Download

S&P downgrades India outlook to Negative from Stable

CLSA view on TCS

Telecom spectrum bands and their significance

A letter from a Tax Payer to the Income tax department: Humor

Bharti Airtel subscribers base crosses 180 million

Warren Buffett Quotes PPT - PDF: Free Download

Market Share of Sugar Producing Companies in India

Warren Buffett suffering from Prostate Cancer

Prepayment charges on home loans abolished

Merrill Lynch bullish on IVRCL

Why FMCG Companies Trade at Expensive Valuations?

George Soros Biography PDF

India's IIP growth @ 4.1 percent in Feb 2012

Top 5 of Fortune 500:1812

Online Trading Simulator

Most Reputed Companies of India

Indian Stock Market History: PPT / PDF

The Science of Getting Rich pdf ebook: Free Download

United States Unemployment Rate Chart - 2012

Tech Bubble Again?

Gold and Silver Price Widget by Google: Best Precious Metals Gadget

Corporate Finance pdf ebook: Free Download

BHEL FPO Update

BHEL Q4 & FY 2012 Result and Valuation Analysis

Options Trading Tutorial: Free Education Video

Century old tax benefits might end for U.S oil companies

Rich Dad Poor Dad PDF ebook - Free Download

Nalco (National Aluminium Co.) Stake Sale

Japanese stock markets @ 52 week high

Stock Market in a Nutshell: A Graphical Summary

List of Top Stock Brokers in India

The Richest Man in Babylon ebook PDF: Free Download

Peter Lynch Quotes

Warren Buffett Quotes

Indian Stock Market History

2012-06-02T21:50:00.000+05:30

As expected, the recent fall in stock markets is not affecting RIL stock price as much due to the fact that on any massive fall RIL does aggressive buying of it's own shares under the ongoing buyback programme. As on May 24, RIL had purchased a total of 19.22 million shares.

Rough calculations show the company has so far bought shares worth Rs 1,364 crore, about 13 per cent of the maximum buyback amount. RIL’s Rs 10,440-crore buyback offer is the largest ever in India Inc’s history. The programme started on February 7 and is scheduled to continue till January 19, 2013.

Though the buyback program began in February, it gained momentum only in May. The company picked up 12 million shares in May 2012 as against three million in April. Interestingly, 25 percent of the share trading volume in the RIL counter this month has come from the buyback.

InvestorZclub believes that the stock is looking attractive in terms of valuations and Rs 680 to 700 range should act as strong support zone.

2012-06-02T21:17:00.002+05:30

India's fourth quarter 2012 GDP growth of 5.3 percent sent shockers to the global investors which led to series of downgrades in expected 2013 GDP growth by leading global investments banks.

Morgan Stanley has cut its 2012 economic growth estimates to 5.7 per cent from 6.3 per cent, after already downgrading its forecasts about two weeks ago from an initial estimate of 6.9 per cent growth.

Standard Chartered Bank cut its financial year 2013 gross domestic product (GDP) forecast to 6.2 per cent from 7.1 per cent while CLSA said it “will probably” lower its consensus GDP forecast of 6.3 per cent to around six per cent.

InvestorZclub believes that there is increased chance of another rate cut of 25 bps to 50 bps in next RBI meet in spite of inflation being in un-comfort zone. The inflation in India is mainly due to supply side bottlenecks which can hardly be controlled by keeping rates high. A 50 bps points cut in interest rate will not feed into inflation too much but could be a big confidence booster for investors which would lead to increased inflows and could fix our current account deficit.

2012-05-30T23:53:00.000+05:30

EUR has seen precipitous fall against USD in the past 1 year, from the levels of 1.47 in early 2011 to 1.24 in May 2012,due to weakening Euro Zone situation.

In the past 5 years EUR has seen the lowest closing level of 1.19 as on 8th June 2010. A fall below this level would see further downside for the EUR currency.

However it seems that most of the negatives in the Euro Zone is already priced into the currency. In case Greece exits from the Euro Zone, a fall below the levels of 1.19 cannot be ruled out.

2012-05-27T22:42:00.000+05:30

As far as Dalal Street is concerned the adage "Sell in May and go away" seems to be holding true for the three years in succession.

During the month of May 2012 the benchmark index, Sensex has fallen by over 1,100 points. This would be the third consecutive year of a large-scale plunge during the month of May for the Indian stock market, as also for many global markets, the historic data suggest.

During May 2007 dalal street saw a very moderate cut and was largely flat while Year 2008 and 2010 saw a cut of almost 4% in May. 2009 was an exception where we saw a significant rise in market in that month. In terms of absolute losses, during the May 2011, the stock market wealth had declined by about Rs 1.8 lakh crore (about USD 60 billion), while the loss was about Rs two lakh crore (USD 80 billion) in May 2010.The month of May witnessed positive moves in 2005, 2003 and 2001 also, while losses were noticed during May months of 2004, 2002 and 2000. However, the gains during May have mostly been lower than other months, even during those years when the month of May has seen positive movements.

The 'sell in May' theory was first propagated for the US market in the 'Stock Trader's Almanac', first published in 1966 as a compilation of historic patterns and calendar-based seasonal trends for the stock movements.

The strategy says that an investor can earn better returns by investing in stocks during the 'best six months' of a year (from November to April) and then selling the stocks in May and switch to bonds for the worst six months (from May till October).

2012-05-23T21:55:00.002+05:30

Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, who is being compared with the legendary Apple founder Steve Jobs, is a 26 year old billionaire as on May 2012. After the successful IPO of Facebook on 18th May 2012 at $38, Zuckerberg became one of the richest person in the world with networth exceeding $19 billion.

Zuckerberg is the largest individual shareholder with 28.4 percent of the common stock and controls 56.9 percent of the voting power in Facebook.

A day after the IPO, On May 19, 2012, Zuckerberg married his longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan. Chan is a pediatrician.

To know more about Zuckerberg in detail, use the following link to download his biography in PDF format: Mark Zuckerberg Biography PDF

2012-05-22T13:57:00.000+05:30

The long-awaited White Paper on black money, which got tabled in Parliament on Monday, prescribed moderate tax rates and measures to rein in the parallel economy in real estate, the financial sector and stock markets. The paper neither gave any estimate of unaccounted money nor revealed any names that could be held responsible for its accumulation.

Citing the examples of the US, UK, France and Germany, the paper said, "In the past, India has also opted for voluntary disclosure schemes. A similar scheme, targeted at black money stashed abroad, can be a one-time option in view of the increasing capacity of tax administration to access information from foreign jurisdiction."

The paper said reform of the financial and real estate sectors would help reduce the generation of black money in the long term the way the freeing of gold imports had helped check smuggling. The realty sector, which constitutes 11 per cent of GDP, was a common means of parking unaccounted money and a large number of transactions were not reported or under-reported, it said.

Highlights of the Suggestions in the paper:

Rationalise tax rates, cut transaction costs for compliance and administration
Pursue further economic liberalisation
Ensure financial sector reports all global transactions above a threshold
Make electronic payment and reporting pre-conditions for registering property
Promote credit and debit cards, as they leave adequate audit trails
Reform natural resource sectors in coordination with states

Calling for moderate tax rates, the paper said, "In the past two decades, India has followed the approach of gradually bringing down rates of all major taxes imposed by the central government. The rising tax revenues as a result of this approach reflect greater voluntary compliance and apparent success of the policy measures."

2012-05-16T13:09:00.000+05:30

Cairn India, Bank of Baroda and Godrej Consumer Products has been included in MSCI global indices effective 1st jun 2012. These stocks have rallied in an otherwise weak market.

Godrej Consumer Products has rallied over 9% to Rs 567 on the National Stock Exchange. Cairn India and Bank of Baroda are up 3% each on back of huge volumes.

However, Suzlon Energy has slipped 5% at Rs 18.85 on removal from the MSCI index. All changes in MSCI indices will be implemented on close of May 31, 2012.

2012-05-16T09:57:00.000+05:30

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala has increased his stake in visual entertainment services firm Prime Focus by acquiring additional shares worth Rs 11 crore through open market transactions.

According to bulk data available with the stock exchanges, Jhunjhunwala purchased 25.50 lakh shares (amounting to 1.71% stake) of Prime Focus held by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) for Rs 42.05 a share, valuing the deal to Rs 10.72 crore.

As of last month, Jhunjhunwala and his wife Rekha Jhunjhunwala held 5.93 per cent stake in the company.

2012-05-14T19:44:00.001+05:30

There can be no better alternative to stocks which are sector leaders and are available at very attractive valuations. Not very often we get opportunities where the market leaders are trading at discount to their intrinsic values. InvestorZclub has compiled a list of stocks which are leader in the sector they operate in but are available at the bottom range of the historical valuation due significant fall in stock prices.

The stocks listed in the above table are significantly down from their five year high and are trading at very attractive valuations. The 5 year high and low prices have been adjusted for splits and bonuses.

Take the case of Hindalco. It is the largest copper and aluminium producer in India. The stock at current market price is trading at 35 percent discount to the forward year book value. ICICI Bank, the largest private sector bank is down 42% from 5 year high and is trading at less than 1.5 times forward year book.

If an investor's horizon is 2 years plus, then one can start accumulating above shares gradually and sit tight for next two years. Each of the above stocks have the potential to deliver in excess of 50% return in two years time frame.

2012-05-13T15:46:00.001+05:30

Option traders can consider selling 640 Put option of Reliance Industries (May Expiry) at the current market premium of Rs. 3.00. This trade would generate more than 3 percent return in less than 20 days. However it must be noted that if RIL falls below 637 then there would be loss of Rs. 250 on every rupee fall in the stock for each lot (RIL lot size 250).

Following are the details of the trade:

If one lot of RIL 640 Put is sold at Rs. 3.00 then the return from the trade is as follows:

Total Premium Collected: 250 * 3 = 750.

Brokerage and other charges: Rs. 50

Margin Required: 22,400

Net return : 700/22400 *100 = 3.125%

2012-05-13T13:02:00.001+05:30

Nifty after breaching of the last two months trading range has struggled to move past the 200 DMA (5103) during last week trade. The Nifty drifted lower after testing the 200 days SMA on Tuesday's trade. The corrective price action may continue until we see a faster retracement of the recent falls and a breach of the lower peaks and troughs formations.

Nifty has closed below the 61.8% retracement level (4950) of the December-February rally. In the process, it has also filled the previous rising gap area of 4980 formed on January 19, 2012. Sustenance below 4950 levels in the coming sessions will see the index eventually heading for a deeper retracement of the January-February rally to the extent of 70-75%, which projects major support near 4850-4800 area.

On the higher side the Nifty will face major hurdle in the range of 5125 - 5160 levels which is the previous week high and the recent support area as the said support is likely to reverse its role as a resistance.

In India, events to watch would be monthly WPI. Key results to watch out next week would be Capital goods major L & T, Bajaj Auto, SBI, Tata Steel and Coal India.

Source: Icicidirect

2012-05-09T10:16:00.000+05:30

Are you based out of US, India or Canada and blame government for very high tax rates where the highest income tax rates are somewhere 30-33%. Checkout the income tax rates of the following countries and you will not feel that bad.

Austria: Average income in Austria, one of the world's best place to live, is about USD 50,700 while the highest income tax rate is 50%.

Belgium: Belgians in 2011, with average income of USD 52,700 pay, took home less than 45% of what they cost their employer, according to a survey by OECD. Here also the highest income tax rate is 50 percent.

Japan: It's the only asian country to have top tax rate of 50% which is more than double Asia's average rate of 23%

United Kingdom: UK increased its highest tax rate by 10 percentage points in 2010 to 50%.

2012-05-04T14:45:00.000+05:30

India VIX (Volatility Index) in a index to measure the implied volatility of Nifty 50 Index Option prices over the next 30 day period. The index reflects the investor's sentiment and is a helpful indicator of the amount of fluctuation that markets might witness in near term. Higher the implied volatility, higher the India VIX value and vice-versa.

Volatility is often described as the "rate and magnitude of changes in prices" and in finance often referred to as risk.

How to interpret VIX?

The VIX is quoted in terms of percentage points and translates, roughly, to the expected movement in the Nifty 50 Index over the next 30-day period, on an annualized basis.

For example, if the VIX is at 18 then one can infer that the index option markets expect the Nifty 50 to move up or down by:

[15 % / Square root (12 months)] = 5.19 %

over the next 30-day period. That is, if, for example, the Nifty 50 is currently at 5000, then the estimated 30-day change in the Nifty 50 will be within 260 points up or down.

Use the following link to download the NSE white paper on VIX: Implied Volatility PDF

2012-05-02T15:43:00.002+05:30

In a disclosure made by the company to stock exchanges it was found that more than 97% of the promoter's stake have been pledged. Such high level of stake pledge is alarming for the investors as it's not clear whether the promoter is still interested in the company or not.

Following are the details of the equity capital structure of the company and the number of shares pledged by the promoter.

Capital (No. of Shares in Million): 691.20

Promoter Stake (No of Shares in Million): 299.58

Promoter Stake (in %) : 43.34

Pledged Shares (No of Shares in Million) : 291.47

% of Paid up Equity Pledged: 42.17

% of Promoter Stake Pledged : 97.29

2012-05-02T13:56:00.000+05:30

Bharti Airtel Ltd today reported a consolidated net profit of 10.06 bln rupees for the quarter ended March 2012, missing the Street's expectation of 12.46 bln rupees. The company's consolidated revenue for the quarter was 187.29 bln rupees.

Following are the highlights of the reporting quarter's earnings and comments of the company's management team:

CONSOLIDATED NUMBERS

* Jan-Mar consol net profit 10.06 bln rupees

* Jan-Mar total revenues 187.29 bln rupees

* Jan-Mar FX fluctuation losses 1.32 bln rupees

* Jan-Mar consol EBITDA 62.33 bln rupees, up 13.7% on yr

* Jan-Mar consol EBITDA margin 33.3%

* Jan-Mar consol capex 23.80 bln rupees, down 48% on year

* End FY12 net debt at $12.71 bln, down $707 mln

* To pay 1 rupee/share dividend

* FY13 consol capex seen $3.0 bln-$3.2 bln

* Amortisation of 3G investment pulled down FY12 profit

* Co's end Mar total mobile user base at 241.15 mln

INDIA OPS

* India, South Asia Jan-Mar revenue 134.21 bln rupees, up 10.5%

* India Jan-Mar mobile ARPU 189 rupees vs 187 rupees Oct-Dec

* India staff as on Mar 31 at 14,935 vs 15,141 on Dec 31

* India Jan-Mar minute of use per user 431/mo vs 419 Oct-Dec

* Bharti Infratel consol total towers 79,154 as on Mar 31

AFRICA OPS

* Africa Jan-Mar revenue $1.07 bln, up 16%

* Africa Jan-Mar avg revenue/user $6.8 vs $7.1 Oct-Dec

* Africa staff as on Mar 31 at 4,792 vs 4,773 on Dec 31

* Africa end Mar mobile user 53.14 mln

* Africa mkts to have Airtel Money, 3G svcs by Sep

* Plan $1 bln Africa capex FY13

* Jan-Mar Africa capex $254 mln, down 33% on year

* Africa Jan-Mar minute of use/user 122/mo vs 125 Oct-Dec

MANAGEMENT COMMENTS

* Look to govt for fair, transparent telecom regime

* Recent India regulatory events to have significant impact

* To launch 4G services in Bengaluru in next few days

2012-05-02T13:46:00.001+05:30

Barclays has retained its "overweight" recommendation on Bharti Airtel, after the company announced its fourth quarter result, with a target price of 440 rupees.

The brokerage believes that improving subscriber additions could turn revenue growth dynamics in the company's favour. Also, the cancellation of some operators' second-generation licences will help competitive dynamics and allow Bharti Airtel the flexibility to balance pricing and volume.

The company reported a consolidated net profit of 10.06 bln rupees against an estimate of 12.46 bln rupees, and income from operations of 187.29 bln rupees.

2012-05-01T15:36:00.006+05:30

Several Home Loan Calculators are available on internet for calculating your EMI (Equated Monthly Installments) obligation for taking a Home loan.
InvestorZclub brings to you an advanced mortgage calculator which will not only calculate your EMI obligation but will also help you in comparing the EMI's for different rates, tenure and principals in the same window so that you can decide better based on your pocket.

2012-04-29T16:57:00.001+05:30

Peter Lynch, former fund manager of Fidelity Magellan Fund and author of New York Times Bestsellers "One up on Wall Street" and "Beating the Street", is regarded as one of the world's most successful fund managers.

His core investment philosophy was value investing, as proposed by Sir Benjamin Graham, but with a little bit of customization. Investors all over the world pay heed to what Mr. Lynch has to say and try to follow his investment techniques.

A lot can be learned about his strategies and philosophy by reading his famous quotes. The following PPT presentation covers some of his most famous quotes on slides.

More PowerPoint presentations from Amit Agarwal

To download the Peter Lynch Quotes in PDF format use the following link: Peter Lynch PDF

2012-04-25T12:16:00.004+05:30

Standard and Poor (S&P), the foreign rating agency, has revised India outlook to negative BBB- Rating due to slowdown in investment and economic growth and widening of CAD.

The Indian Stock Markets reacted negatively to the news and fell around 1% from previous day close.

Nifty breached 5200 levels while Sensex is just hovering around 17000 levels.

2012-04-24T17:04:00.000+05:30

A better than expected result from India's largest software exporter, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, have cheered the street but failed to impress one of the world's largest rating agency CLSA.

The market gave thumps up to the result and the stock shot up as much as 12.4% or Rs. 130 after its fiscal Q4 results, but CLSA says it will stick to its underperform rating on the stock with a 12-month price target of Rs 1,160 compared to TCS's latest share price of Rs 1,195.

Despite TCS' upbeat comments on Monday, CLSA says the overall demand environment is volatile, while pricing pressures and the elevated costs of hiring will limit upside margins.

2012-04-23T22:20:00.000+05:30

After the TRAI's recommendation on pricing of several spectrums, people might be thinking why 700 MHz band is priced so steep to 1800 Mhz band. The basic answer to this question is that lower level spectra can travel more with the same number of towers. In other words, operators would need to install much lower number of towers in lower-range spectra. As such, such spectra is more valuable.

Spectrum can be broadly divided into six classes. As their frequency (MHz) increases, their penetration power falls and the operators need to put more and more towers to cover the same area. It is approximately 70% cheaper to provide mobile broadband coverage at frequencies around 700MHz than using the core 3G frequencies at 2100 MHz.

Following is a short description on each of the spectrum bands currently being used in India.

700 MHz -- Used for terrestrial TV transmission (Doordarshan) and possibly ready for broadband use by 2015.

800 MHz -- Used for CDMA services (voice and EVDO high-speed data)

900 MHz -- Allocated to early GSM players such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone for 2G voice

1800 MHz -- Allocated to late GSM players such as Uninor for 2G services

2100 MHz -- 3G services allocated in 2010

2300 MHz -- 4G spectrum (LTE/Wimax) allocated in 2010

2500 MHz -- 4G spectrum allocated in 2009 to BSNL

2012-04-23T19:18:00.001+05:30

Date: 18th Feb 2012

To,
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS),
Department of Treasury
Washington, DC

Sub: Payment of Tax Dues

Dear Sir / Madam,

Enclosed is my 2012 Form 1040, together with payment. Please take note of the attached article from USA Today archives. In the article, you will note that the Pentagon paid $171.50 each for hammers and NASA paid $600.00 each for toilet seats.

Please find enclosed in this package 4 toilet seats (value $2,400) and 6 hammers (value $1,029). This is in payment for my total tax due of $3,429.

Out of a sense of patriotic duty, and to assist in the political purification of our government, I am also enclosing a 1.5 inch Phillips head screw, for which HUD duly recorded and approved a purchase value of $22, as my contribution to fulfill the Presidential Election Fund option on Form 1040.

It has been a pleasure to pay my taxes this year, and I look forward to paying them again next year in accordance with officially established government values.

Thanking You.

Sincerely,
The Satisfied Taxpayer

*If you liked the above letter and the way the tax return was paid, then please share it with your friends.

2012-04-22T11:59:00.000+05:30

Bharti Airtel added 2.5 million new subscribers to its user base in the month of March 2012, highest in the last 12 months, due to increased number of MNPs going in favour of the India's largest telecom company, following the Supreme Court order for cancellation of 122 licences issued during A.Raja tenure.

As of March 2012, Bharti Airtel remains at No.1 position with a total subscriber base of 181.3 million while Idea maintains it's third position with 112.7 million subscribers. Vodafone remains second with total subscriber count at 150.5 million at the end of March.

The three telecom biggies together gained 953,764 users through MNP in March, compared with 440,116 in January. Bharti Airtel’s addition of users through the MNP route stood at 426,129 in the month, compared with 193,785 in January this year. Similarly, Vodafone gained 271,292 subscribers through MNP in March compared to 97,702 new users it had added January. For Idea Cellular, the net gain in subscribers stands at 256,343 for March, against 148,629 in January.

Uninor and Sistema Shyam, which have been impacted by the Supreme Court order, are losing subscribers through MNP, despite their aggressive campaigns and new tariff plans. For Uninor, the net loss of subscribers through MNP stood at 63,536 in March, against 22,202 in January. Uninor’s total subscriber base stands at 42.4 million, while MTS’ is 16 million.

Since the launch of MNP on January 20 last year, Idea has gained the most number of users (2,759,754), followed by Vodafone (1,835,592) and Bharti (1,278,690). On the other hand, Uninor has lost 181,547, Etisalat 133,006, STel 95,874 and MTS 41,607 users till date.

2012-04-22T11:46:00.002+05:30

Warren Buffett, the billionaire investors and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, has openly revealed his success formula and investment mantras in various interviews, meetings and discussions.

These mantras are compiled by InvestorZclub in the form of Quotes in the following PPT Presentation and PDF document.

More PowerPoint presentations from Amit Agarwal

To download the Quotes in PDF format use the following link: Warren Buffett Quotes PDF

2012-04-20T20:30:00.001+05:30

After Brazil India is the largest sugarcane producer in the world. Presently, about 4 million hectares of land is under sugarcane with an average yield of 70 tonnes per hectare.

While India scores second in sugarcane production, it is the largest producer of sugar including traditional cane sugar sweeteners, khandsari and Gur equivalent to 26 million tonnes raw value. Even in respect of white crystal sugar, India has ranked No.1 position in 7 out of last 10 years.

Sugar production in India is highly concentrated in the Uttar Pradesh due to abundant supply of raw material in the state. Bajaj Hindustan, India's largest sugar producer is also based out of U.P.

In India there are many large as well as small players in the industry. But for the sake of calculation of market share we are taking into account only the listed players in sugar space.

Following is the table and pie chart representing the market share of individual companies in the sugar industry.

Companies	Revenue (Rs. Crore)	Market Share (by Revenue)
Shree Renuka Sugars	4,685	22%
Bajaj Hindusthan	4510	21%
Triveni Engineering and Industries	2162.22	10%
Balrampur Chini Mills	2056.01	9%
Saraswati Industrial Syndicate	1951.88	9%
Eid parry	1435.5	7%
Dhampur Sugar Mills	1214.7	6%
Sakthi Sugars	1211.03	6%
Mawana Sugars	1200.48	5%
Bannari Amman Sugars Ltd.	1088.4	5%
TOTAL	21515.52

2012-04-18T10:06:00.000+05:30

Warren Buffet has recently been diagnosed with a stage 1 prostate cancer, which is believed to be non life threatening. The eighty one year old, billionaire investor, will begin a two month treatment of daily radiation in July.

“I feel great -- as if I were in my normal excellent health -- and my energy level is 100 percent,” Buffett said in the letter yesterday. “I will let shareholders know immediately should my health situation change. Eventually, of course, it will; but I believe that day is a long way off.”

The diagnosis is the least severe of four stages of the cancer, which affects 1 in 8 men over the age of 70. The five year survival rate for local prostate cancer, such as Buffett’s, is close to 100 percent, according to the American Cancer Society.

About 241,740 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in the U.S. this year and the disease will kill about 28,170 patients, the American Cancer Society estimated. The disease is the second-deadliest cancer for men after lung cancer.

Use the following link to read more about Mr. Buffett

2012-04-17T21:21:00.000+05:30

Reserve Bank of India, in it April 2012 monetary policy review, has abolished the prepayment charges charged by banks from home loan borrowers on the prepayment of the outstanding principal before the loan maturity.

The move is definitely positive for consumers but slightly negative for banks like ICICI Bank which are heavily exposed to home loans.

However some private banks have already been providing home loans without prepayment charges.

RBI has cut the repo and reverse repo rate by 50 basis points indicating a rate reversal time which would benefit banks, real estate and auto companies going forward.

2012-04-16T22:45:00.001+05:30

Merrill Lynch Capital Markets bought additional 2.125 million shares of IVRCL Ltd. in a bulk deal today as on 16th April 2012 at Rs 70.83 apiece for Rs 15 crore through an open market transcation.

Last week, Merrill Lynch Capital Markets bought 1.6 million shares of IVRCL for Rs 11.83 crore.

In March this year Essel group acquired 10.2% in IVRCL raising the speculation of hostile takeover of the infrastructure company by the Essel group.

2012-04-15T14:27:00.000+05:30

BSE FMCG index has gained 22 per cent since January 2011 even as the Sensex lost 15 per cent in that period. The index has been consistently making new all time highs in the month of March and April 2012.

In 2007, the FMCG index had only a narrow premium over the PE of the broader market. In April 2007, for example, the FMCG index traded at 21.5 times, the Sensex was at 18.7 times and the BSE 500 at 16.8 times.

The gap in valuations of FMCG index, sensex and broader BSE 500 remained narrow from 2005 to 2009 but the premium began to rapidly inflate from 2010 onwards. The BSE FMCG index is now at a price-earnings multiple of 35 times. In contrast, the BSE Sensex trades at 17.6 times, and the broader BSE 500 is at 19.1 times (see the image above).

If one looks at the business model of the FMCG companies closely, it would become clear why the stocks of these companies are in high demand and trades at hefty premium.

1. The FMCG companies operate on very low debt. Most of them are infact cash rich with zero debt. This is a distinct advantage in a world of high interest rates and heavy interest outgo telling on profitability of other sectors.

2. Return on equity has been in excess of 20 per cent in the past five years for FMCG companies.

3. Operating profit margins for FMCG companies have averaged a minimum of 20 per cent over the past five years.

4. They have good pricing power due to the fact that the products that they sell are for frequent use such as soaps, toothpastes, hair oil, detergents and so on which are low ticket in size and the consumption doesen't fall for them on slight increase in prices. Marico, Dabur, Hindustan Unilever, Emami, GSK Consumer Healthcare, Godrej Consumer Products and others have effected price hikes and managed to sustain volume growth as well.

Marico's PE at the start of 2005 was 16 times, against behemoth HUL's 29 times. The former's valuations rose to 28.4 times six years later, while the latter's inched up marginally to 29.1 times trailing earnings. ITC's sedate multiple of 18.7 trailing earnings in 2005 ran up to the current 30.5 times.

With strong rural demand and good penetration of FMCG companies in these markets, the future of these comapnies look even brighter. There might be slight correction in stock prices in coming months due to recent runup and high valuations, but it seems distant that they will get de-rated significantly any time soon and investors will be able to grab them at sub 20 PE levels.

2012-04-12T21:24:00.000+05:30

George Soros, a hungarian business man, investor and philanthropist, is the founder chairman of Soros Fund Managment.

In September 2011, Forbes announced that George, has for the first time made to the list of top 10 wealthiest Americans, with a net worth estimated at $22.0 billion. According to this list, George is the 46th richest person in the world.

To download the more detailed biography of George Soros use the following link: George Soros Biography PDF

2012-04-12T13:27:00.001+05:30

For the month of February 2012 IIP (Industrial Production) growth stood at 4.1% as against 6.8 % in January 2012. But the statistical department revised the number for January 2012 sharply from 6.8% to 1.1% mainly on account of wrong data forwarded by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs. Sugar production was wrongly taken at 13.41 million tonnes, as compared to 5.81 million tonnes.

With such poor IIP data, there is a an increased possibility now that RBI might cut rates soon by 25 basis points if not 50 basis points in April to boost confidence. That should provide floor to the market and we might see some rally in interest rate sensitives.

2012-04-11T22:09:00.002+05:30

Charts by Black & White

Top five companies in fortune 500 list of 1812 were banks. It's clearly evident that banks were dominant 200 years ago as well.

Source: www.bloomberg.com

2012-04-11T20:27:00.001+05:30

If you are new to stock trading and has been looking for a trading simulation to understand how trading happens before investing your real money, then you are at the right place.

The following trading simulator helps you understand the trading system, setup and software: Online Trading Simulation

2012-04-10T17:58:00.001+05:30

In a recent survey conducted by Nielsen (2012), that tracked the reputation of 32 companies in India based on what they offered in terms of service, product quality, financial performance and talent pool, Tata Motors has emerged as the most reputed company in India followed by Aditya Birla Nuvo and Bharti Airtel.

Tata Motors was ranked second in the last year's (2011) list. Tata Steel dropped from the first position to fifth this year, while Wipro slipped from fourth to seventh position. ITC, ICICI Bank and Hero MotoCorp Ltd are the new entrants in the list of top reputed names.Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), Wipro and HDFC Bank also figured in the list of top firms.

The survey covered the top listed companies of India across industries based on market capitalisation, sales and assets. Over 1,700 respondents, consisting of stakeholders, financial community, investors, top level management across corporates, and the general consumer, were consulted for the survey.

2012-04-09T21:46:00.001+05:30

Indian Stock Markets have come a long way since the days when trading used to happen under a banyan tree. In 1957 Bombay Stock Exchange became the first stock exchange to be recognized under Securities Contract Act.

In 1993 National Stock Exchange was established which brought the paradigm shift in the way trading use to happen. In 2000 Internet trading was started at NSE. BSE followed soon later.

With tighter regulation under SEBI and buoyant Indian economy, Indian Stock Markets started attracting foreign investors in a big way. Today Investors from all over the world invest in Indian companies and stocks.

To know more about the history and evolution of Indian Stock Markets check out the following presentation.

More PowerPoint presentations from Amit Agarwal

You can also download the presentation in PDF format using the following link: History of Indian Stock Market PDF

2012-04-08T10:37:00.001+05:30

Wallace D. Wattles authored "The science of getting rich" is a timeless wisdom and a practical step-by-step prosperity program from a forgotten 1910 classic.

The book is divided into following sixteen chapters:

1: The Right To Be Rich

2: There Is A Science of Getting Rich

3: Is Opportunity Monopolized?

4: The First Principle in The Science of Getting Rich

5: Increasing Life

6: How Riches Come To You

7: Gratitude

8: Thinking in The Certain Way

9: How To Use The Will

10: Further Use of The Will

11: Acting in The Certain Way

12: Efficient Action

13: Getting Into The Right Business

14: The Impression of Increase

15: The Advancing Personality

16: Some Cautions and Concluding Observations

17: A Summary of The Science of Getting Rich

Use the following link to download the ebook: The science of getting rich PDF

2012-04-06T23:14:00.001+05:30

U.S unemployment rate fell to 8.2 percent in April 2012 after employers added more than 200,000 jobs for the fourth straight month in March, suggesting the economy is getting better with every passing month and thus needs no extra monetary policy support from the Federal Reserve at least for now.

The economy has lost about 5.3 million jobs since the start of the 2007-09 recession. At the recent pace of growth, those jobs will not be recouped before early 2014.

2012-04-06T22:19:00.000+05:30

After more than a decade of tech bubble are we entering the tech bubble zone again. The recent valuation of some of the tech companies such as Facebook and linkedIn based on the number of users rather than revenue suggest that people are again chasing tech companies with lot of hopes built into the valuation. Here is a look at some of the most recent tech valuations that could be cause for concern.

2012-04-05T20:40:00.001+05:30

Precious metals like Gold, Silver and Platinum are no longer just a physical instrument for investment but are being traded globally in huge volumes by traders and investors for both speculation and investment purposes.

The price movements in these metals also affects movements in other asset classes such as equities, currencies etc. Thus it becomes very essential to keep track of their price movements whether you trade in them or not.

There is a precious metals gadget developed by Google, which can be embedded in blogs and websites related to equities, commodities and currency, for tracking intraday, monthly and yearly price charts of Gold, Silver and Platinum in one single widget. The best part of the widget is that the data is provided by Kitco, a renowned name in metal prices and charts.

Following is the working version of the widget.

If you want to embed the above widget into your blog or website use the following link: Precious Metals Widget

2012-04-05T20:11:00.001+05:30

As a supplement to famous text books such as "Corporate Finance Fundamental by Ross" and Allen's "Corporate Finance", this compendium provides a comprehensive overview of the most important topics covered in a corporate finance course in BBA and MBA. Throughout the compendium theory is supplemented with illustrations and examples.

Use the following link to download the Corporate Finance ebook: Corporate Finance PDF

2012-04-03T13:37:00.002+05:30

BHEL today announced that it would withdraw the FPO papers filed with SEBI.

The company filed DRHP in September for the follow-on public offer (FPO) under which the government planned to offload 5% stake in the company which was expected to fetch over Rs 4,000 crore.

The company said the decision has been taken after the receipt of "no-objection" for withdrawal of DRHP for BHEL FPO from the Department of Heavy industry and Department of Disinvestment.

BHEL today also announced the fourth quarter and full year results which were above market expectations. for more details on BHEL result: BHEL Q4 2012 Result

2012-04-03T12:56:00.000+05:30

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL), India's largest public sector capital goods company has declared its fourth quarter and full year results.

Full Year (FY-12) Highlights:

Total turnover at Rs.49,301
PBT at Rs. 10,001 crores
PAT at Rs. 6848 crores
Order inflow declined 63.4% to Rs 22,096 crore from Rs 60,507 crore.

Q4 Highlights:

PAT up 14.6% at 3208 crores vs Rs. 2798 crores in Q4 previous year.

Valuation:

At the current market price of 268 the stock is valued at 9.5 times PE multiple. 52 week high low for the stock is 450 / 225.

2012-03-31T13:43:00.001+05:30

Options are derivative instruments used for both hedging and speculative purposes.

By definition an option is a legal contract in which the writer (seller) of the contract grants to the buyer, the right to purchase from or sell to the writer a designated instrument or a scrip at a specified price within a specified period of time.

The right to purchase a specified stock is called the Call option, while the right to sell a specified stock is called Put option.

There exist many option strategies (tactics), which involves different combination of Calls and Puts, for hedging as well as speculation. Some of such strategies are Bull Call Spread, Bear Call Spread, Call Backspread, Covered Call, The Collar etc.

The following Options Strategies Course is designed to show how options work as a tool for hedging positions and how they can be used for speculative purposes.

2012-03-29T22:53:00.000+05:30

American president, Barack Obama, urged congress to abolish $4 billion of annual oil and natural gas subsidies and shift those savings to research on clean-energy fuels.

Last year, the three biggest U.S. oil companies took home more than $80 billion in profit and they can stand on their own now, said Mr. President.

Ending such breaks would reduce the deficit by $41 billion over a decade, according to Obama’s budget for fiscal 2013.

2012-03-27T18:39:00.001+05:30

Robert T. Kiyosaki authored "Rich dad Poor Dad", which sold millions of copies all over the world has been "The New York Times" and "The Wall Street Journal" best seller.

USA Today quoted "Rich dad Poor dad is a starting point for anyone looking to gain control of their financial future" while JP Morgan Company declared the book a must read for Millionaires.

Robert Kiyosaki says that "the main reason people struggle financially is because they have spent years in school but learned nothing about money. The result is that people learn to work for money but never learn to have money work for them"

Use the following link to download the ebook: Rich Dad Poor Dad PDF

2012-03-27T14:45:00.006+05:30

Govt. of India is looking to sell 10 percent stake in the state run Aluminium producing company NALCO (National Aluminium Company Ltd.) which could fetch the govt. around Rs.1400 crores at the current market price of Rs 55. As part of divestment program the govt. recently concluded auction of ONGC shares and has also launched NBCC IPO.

NALCO is Asia's largest integrated aluminium complex, encompassing bauxite mining, alumina refining, aluminium smelting and casting, power generation, rail and port operations.

NALCO's total market cap, at the current market price of Rs.55, is about 14,200 crores and GOI holds around 87 percent in the company.

52 Week High / Low for the stock as on 27th March 2012 was 102 / 48

2012-03-27T14:30:00.000+05:30

Japan's benchmark index Nikkei hit its highest closing level on Tuesday since a massive earthquake and tsunami triggered a radiation crisis on March 11 last year. The index rose 2.4%, or 236.91 points, to 10,255.15, while the broader Topix index also climbed 2.4% to 872.42.

The Nikkei has surged 21.3% so far this year in 2012 due to robust US economic data and easing programmes by global central banks.

But Japanese equities are still considered undervalued compared with their global peers. The Topix carries a 12-month forward price-to-book ratio of 0.98 compared with the S&P 500's 2.0.

Use the following link to view Nikkei One year Chart

2012-03-27T13:45:00.004+05:30

Stocks and Stock Markets in one view

2012-03-23T20:49:00.001+05:30

Indian Stock Markets have a come long way in past two decades in terms of governance, simplicity, security and participation. Now investors from all over the world are participating in Indian equities like never before.

The participation of retail investors, though relatively low when compared to developed worlds, have also gone up significantly since past 20 years, thanks to the increasing income of urban India. Experts believe that equity investments in India should go up substantially higher from the current levels in next 10 years.

This opportunity has given birth to thousands of stock brokers in India. Many domestic and international banks in India have started offering stock broking and DEMAT services via separate subsidiaries.

While one can choose any authorised stock broker for buying and selling equities in India depending upon the location convenience, charges and other factors but its worth to stay with large broking houses as they provide multiple branch facility and professional service.

Following is a list of top ten stock brokers in India in terms of size, popularity and scale of operation.

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2012-03-23T20:40:00.000+05:30

George Clayson authored "The Richest Man in Babylon" is the most inspiring book ever written on wealth. This best selling book is reveals the success secrets of ancient Babylonian parables and has been hailed as the greatest inspirational work on financial planning and personal wealth.

The Richest Man in Bablyon is an excellent book. Although small in size, it is packed with powerful information that can be life changing. It has helped many people become millionaires.

The book is a must reading for anyone who wants to achieve maximum financial success.

Use the following link the download the ebook: The richest man in babylon pdf