Sensex falls 425 points, NIFTY settles at 10,944 weighed by Autos


Benchmark indices ended over 1 per cent lower on Friday, weighed by a sharp sell-off in the automobile and metal stocks.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 36,546, down 425 points or 1.15 per cent, while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,944, down 126 points or 1.14 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, the Nifty Auto index, the top loser of the day, settled 3.6 per cent lower as Tata Motors, MRF and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) lost considerable ground. Nifty Metal index ended 3.4 per cent lower with SAIL and Vedanta among the top losers.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended 203 points or 1.40 per cent lower at 14,328, while S&P BSE SmallCap index settled at 13,656, down 122 points or 0.89 per cent.

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Reblog: What You Can Learn from Fighter Pilots About Making Fast and Accurate Decisions


“What is a strategy? A mental tapestry of changing intentions for harmonizing and focusing our efforts as a basis for realizing some aim or purpose in an unfolding and often unforeseen world of many bewildering events and many contending interests.” — John Boyd

What techniques do people use in the most extreme situations to make decisions? What can we learn from them to help us make more rational and quick decisions?

If these techniques work in the most drastic scenarios, they have a good chance of working for us. This is why military mental models can have such wide, useful applications outside their original context.

Military mental models are constantly tested in the laboratory of conflict. If they weren’t agile, versatile, and effective, they would quickly be replaced by others. Military leaders and strategists invest a great deal of time in developing and teaching decision-making processes.

One strategy that I’ve found repeatedly effective is the OODA loop.

Developed by strategist and U.S. Air Force Colonel John Boyd, the OODA loop is a practical concept designed to be the foundation of rational thinking in confusing or chaotic situations. OODA stands for Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act.

Boyd developed the strategy for fighter pilots. However, like all good mental models, it can be extended into other fields. We used it at the intelligence agency I used to work at. I know lawyers, police officers, doctors, businesspeople, politicians, athletes, and coaches who use it.

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Reblog: Capitulation of the small-cap investor


The heady Indian bull market was fueled by the liquidity rush post demonetization. But that was not the only reason propelling indices in India to new highs. Thanks to lower global interest rates, money was channelized into India in the hunt for better returns. A stable government at the center, lower crude prices and low inflation were other factors that contributed to the overall positive sentiment.

But many of us wanted more than what blue chips had to offer. We wanted to “beat the market”. Or, for that matter even the track records of legendary investors like Warren Buffet or Peter Lynch. Naturally, this led us to scenarios which offered potentially superior returns. And in the perpetual hunt for 10-baggers, we ended up investing in nano-, micro- and small-cap companies with questionable business models, corporate governance and promoter intentions.

We looked at:

  • Turn around stories
  • Hope stories
  • High growth small cap names
  • Formalization of informal sector across industries
  • Commodity stocks

Many stocks that fell in the above categorizations turned out to be 10-20 baggers over the last 3-4 years. But once the music stopped, we witnessed a vertical decline in stock prices that has stunned even seasoned investors.

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Sensex gains 213 points post Populist Budget Proposals


The benchmark indices settled over 0.5 per cent higher on Friday after Finance Minister Piyush Goyal announced a string of populist measures in his Interim Budget 2019 speech in the Parliament.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 36,469, up 213 points or 0.59 per cent, while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,894, up 63 points or 0.58 per cent.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended at 14,641, up 81 points or 0.56 per cent, while the S&P BSE SmallCap settled at 13,950, up 24 points or 0.17 per cent.

Among sectors, the Nifty Auto index was the top gainer of the day, rising 2.71 per cent led by Hero MotoCorp and Maruti Suzuki. The Nifty IT index too rose 1.45 per cent led by HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra.

In a major relief to the middle-class taxpayer, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal, in his Interim Budget 2019 speech announced that those earning up to Rs 5 lakh a year would not have to pay any tax. He also said that those with an annual income of up to Rs 6.5 lakh would not have to file income-tax returns.

Goyal also announced PM Kisan Samadhan Nidhi scheme in which, farmers owning up to 2 hectares of land will get Rs 6,000 per annum, which will be completely funded by the central government. This scheme is likely to benefit 12 crore small and marginal farmers, at an estimated cost of Rs. 75,000 crore, he said. Apart from this, he also said that the government has set aside Rs 60,000 crore for MGNREGA this year, and allocated Rs 19,000 crore for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.

The finance minister also said that the country’s defence budget for FY20 has been increased to Rs 3 lakh crore.

The government allocated Rs 64,587 crore for railways in FY20, Goyal said adding that the railway operating ratio was seen 96.2 per cent in FY19 vs 95 per cent in FY20.

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Reblog: Seth Klarman Protege David Abrams Says “Value Investing Is The E = mc² Of Money And Investing”


One of our favorite investors to follow here at The Acquirer’s Multiple is Seth Klarman’s protege David Abrams. Abrams typically shuns the public limelight so it’s difficult to find interviews where he shares his investing strategy. The WSJ did a great story on him back in 2014 titled – Hedge-Fund World’s One-Man Wealth Machine saying:

Mr. Abrams got his start in 1988 at Baupost Group LLC, also based in Boston. Run by Seth Klarman, Baupost is one of the world’s largest hedge-fund firms, with $27 billion under management. The two remain friends, and Mr. Klarman’s personal foundation has put money into Abrams Capital’s funds. Mr. Klarman described his protégé as “smart as a whip.”

“He loves a good puzzle and a good treasure hunt,” Mr. Klarman said.

The hedge-fund manager, David Abrams, has personally become a billionaire, and earned billions more for his wealthy investors, over the past five years running what is effectively a one-man shop, according to company and investor documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal and people who have worked with him. His firm, Abrams Capital Management LP, manages nearly $8 billion across three funds and is discussing raising money for a fourth fund that could help push its assets past $10 billion.

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Reblog: How to Trade Trend Continuations using Remounts (Live Netflix Trade)


It’s so hard to buy pullbacks!

That’s what a fledgling trader told me there other day after I asked him why she doesn’t trade trends.

I can understand her dilemma. I mean, how many times have you bought on the pullback only to see the stock pullback further. You then get stopped out before the stock eventually does exactly what you thought it would.

Talk about frustrating!

Well, that’s why we don’t guess by trying to time the pullback. Instead, we let the pullback play out before entering.

How do we do that?

By waiting for the remount of a key range, like the 9 (ema) and 50 day moving averages.

This gives us confirmation that the pullback is over and puts a repeatable process in place that gives us easy steps to buy the pullback without fear.

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Senses ends 170 points lower on sell-off in Maruti, ZEEL


The frontline indices have pared their day’s gains and are trading on a flat note driven by a sharp selloff in the media stocks.

Among sectors, the Nifty Media index slipped around 10 per cent in the afternoon trade led by a sharp selloff in shares of Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) and Dish TV.

In the broader market, S&P BSE MidCap index was trading  0.79 per cent or 118 points lower at 14,742, while S&P BSE SmallCap index was ruling at 14,113, down 112 points or 0.79 per cent.

Maruti Suzuki slipped nearly 9 per cent to Rs 6,420 in afternoon trade after the country’s largest passenger car maker reported a 17.26 per cent fall in its net profit at Rs 1,489.3 crore for the third quarter of FY19. The carmaker had reported PAT of Rs 1,800 crore in the year-ago quarter. On QoQ basis, the figures fell 33.5 per cent. Total revenue from operations stood at Rs 19,668.3 crore against Rs 19,283.2 crore in the year-ago period. Basic EPS (earnings per share) came in at Rs 49.30 against Rs 59.56 in the corresponding quarter previous fiscal.
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Reblog: Joel Greenblatt – The 3 Golden Rules Of Successful Value Investing


Here’s a great article published at Forbes recently regarding one of our favorite value investors, Joel Greenblatt. The article is written by Jack Schwager, author of the Market Wizards series, in which he recounts his interview with Joel Greenblatt for one of his books. Schwager recalls some of the insightful parts of the interview included Greenblatt’s successful investing strategy and his three golden rules of value investing.

Here is an excerpt from the Forbes article:

Is “value investing” correct? originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world.

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Reblog: The 7 Brutal Truths: Why You Should Not Be a Trader


Let me ask you…

Why do you want to be a trader?

You want financial freedom.

You don’t want to answer to anybody.

You want to be your own boss.

You want to make money.

You want a passive source of income.

Now you’re probably wondering:

“Is it possible to achieve all these from trading?”

Good question.

Then you’ll want to read every single word in this post because you’ll discover the myths, the possibilities, and most importantly… the truth about trading.

You may be surprised at what I’m about to share with you.

So if you’re ready… then let’s begin.

#1 You’re trading for passive income

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Indices end flat, Nifty holds 10,900; Sun Pharma tanks 9%


Continuing with their lacklustre performance for the third straight day, the equity benchmark indices settled on a flat note on Friday. While the day witnessed solid buying in bluechips such as Reliance Industries (RIL), HCL Tech, HDFC Bank and TCS, the gains in the index were capped by drubbing in counters including Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel and L&T.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended just 13 points higher at 36,387, while NSE’s Nifty50 index held the crucial 10,900 level to close at 10,907, up 2 points. On a weekly basis, both the indices ended 1 per cent higher.

Sectorally, barring IT, all other indices ended in the red with the pharma stocks bleeding the most. The Nifty Pharma pack lost nearly 3 per cent to end the day at 8,690.

Shares of pharma bellwether Sun Pharma crashed to their six year- low of Rs 375.40 apiece in the early trade on Friday after news reports suggested fresh whistleblower documents were sent to Sebi. The stock plunged as much as 12 per cent on BSE. The company, however, in a BSE filing clarified that it was not privy to the news reported by MoneyLife. The stock, eventually, ended nearly 9 per cent lower at Rs 390.75.

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