The Hindu Business Line : Sunday, December 03, 2006

INVESTMENT QUOTIENT
Investment Quiz
1. A consortium led by Ripplewood Holdings has made a $1.6 billion bid to takeover an outfit that has publications such as Taste of Home and Everyday with Rachel Ray, among others. Name the ... More

OPEN OFFERS
Matrix-Mylan: Accept
The Matrix-Mylan deal, in our view, holds greater benefits for the latter than the former; participating in the offer appears appropriate. More

INVESTMENTS
Ratio analysis, key to unlocking financial statements
Companies despatch their annual reports once every accounting year (normally 12 months). With these reports running into hundreds of pages, how do you quickly understand a company's performance over this period? As accounts are prepared using the ... More

A tax-saving exercise to perk up returns
Options that could match your goals and risk appetite More

THE SMART MESSAGE
The impact of inflation
Santosh thinks he has his investment plans sewn up. He'd like to move into a three-bedroom apartment in five years and also save up enough to put his four-year-old son through an MBA degree 15 years hence. He reckons he needs to save up Rs 65 ... More

Investment Nuggets
"The legend of growth stock investing", Jim Slater, is also regarded as the stock market's pre-eminent asset strippers in the late 1960s. His method of choosing companies is best explained in The Zulu Principle — a ... More

Money Talk
Uma Ratnam Krishnan is the Chief Executive Officer of Optimus, the business process outsourcing subsidiary of Polaris Software. As the head of Optimus, she brings to bear her 16-year work experience across retail financial ... More

INSIGHT
Reworking the large-cap portfolio
Here is a rejigged set, with many new stocks reflecting a different sectoral bias. More

Double whammy for oil companies
Domestic oil companies will have to contend with lower refining margins as well as the negative margins in marketing now following the retail price cut. More

Demat Fraud: Who is to blame?
SEBI's recent order calling upon two major depositories and a few depository participants to disgorge a carefully calculated sum of Rs 116 crore does not seem justified More

MUTUAL FUNDS
Market View
The recent earnings indicate that pricing power is returning to the larger players in the Indian IT space, with the possibility of upward revisions in full year earnings estimates. On another front, trends in quarterly results ... More

DSPML Top-100 Equity Fund: Invest
An investment can be considered in DSPML Top-100 Equity Fund. With an encouraging return of 58 per cent since launch, its performance is comparable with established peers. The fund has also found a berth among the top quartile of diversified ... More

Update
LICMF has launched the India Vision Fund, a three-year close-ended scheme that will automatically be converted into an open-ended scheme after three years. The fund aims at identifying growth sectors with emphasis on undervalued small and ... More

HDFC Prudence: Invest
The fund is suitable for investors who want equity-like returns but who wish to contain downside risks through an exposure to debt. More

Fund Talk
I have been investing in the following funds: Franklin India Flexicap fund, Franklin India Prima, HDFC Equity, HDFC Premier Multicap, HDFC TaxSaver, Kotak Midcap and Fidelity Special Situations through SIPs for the past two years. I need to ... More

Kotak Opportunities — Banking up sharply
Kotak Opportunities is a diversified equity scheme with the flexibility to invest across market capitalisations. A look at the portfolio reshuffle in July-October 2006 shows that the top 10 holdings accounted for 48 per cent of the asset ... More

STOCKS
Kirloskar Oil Engines: Buy
Long-term investments can be considered in the stock of Kirloskar Oil Engines (KOEL), a leading player in the diesel engine business. The stock trades at a price-earnings multiple of 13 times its likely per-share earnings for FY08. Given the ... More

Glaxo: Hold
Aventis: Buy
Though Glaxo and Aventis have underperformed the broad indices since June, we believe they hold potential for patient investors. More

Shanthi Gears: Invest
Revenue and earnings of the company would continue to be on a high growth trajectory, supported by the upsurge in capex across its user industries. More

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS
Query Corner
I hold Alok Industries at an average price of Rs 60. I am willing to hold on to this stock for the long-term (3 to 5 years). Can I add to my quantity at these levels? Or would it be wise to exit and re-enter later? Babita Singh, S. ... More

Trader's Corner
One of the basic tenets of technical analysis is that history repeats itself. Human behaviour, emotions, feelings and responses to a given situation have remained the same over ages. Since stock markets are nothing but manifestation of the ... More

Index Outlook
As the Sensex readies to race past yet another milestone, an interesting disconnect is being seen in the movement of the global equity markets. Markets in Europe and the US have launched in to an intermediate-term correction. But markets in Latin ... More

SBI
It was yet another show-stealing performance last week, with the stock gaining 8 per cent. Our medium-term target of Rs 1,370 was achieved effortlessly. As the target for the third leg from July lows has been surpassed, the price could now ... More

Reliance
The stock went nowhere last week, remaining glued to the previous week's trading range between Rs 1,230 and Rs 1,280. There is a descending triangle pattern on the daily charts. This is a bearish pattern. But our positive outlook for the ... More

Tata Steel
The movement in this stock was along expected lines last week. The price reversed below Rs 493 to fall to an intra-week low of Rs 466. The sequence of lower peaks and troughs since early October points towards a strong medium-term downtrend. ... More

Infosys
The scrip saw some profit booking towards the middle of last week that pulled the stock to an intra-week low of Rs 2,134. Some caution is advisable with regard to long positions, as the chart has completed a 5-wave pattern from the low of Rs ... More

ACC
The correction of the previous week proved to be short-lived. It made yet another surge forward to record a weekly gain of 5.6 per cent. The chart is strong from a medium-term perspective though a slight slowdown in the momentum was seen towards ... More

ONGC
It was a flat week for the stock, with the price moving between Rs 830 and Rs 900. But the struggle to rise above Rs 880 is a trifle concerning. If this level is not surpassed early next week, we could see the price sliding to Rs 814 or Rs ... More

Chart Focus
This was one of the hardest hit stocks in the May crash, falling from a lofty height of Rs 1,298 to a low of Rs 440 in July. The stock has been moving sideways in the range between Rs 450 and Rs 620 since then. The price reversed last week after ... More

CARS
Zen Estilo: Japanese simplicity, European chic
The new Zen Estilo is for the most part a carry forward of the original Suzuki MR Wagon. With a tried and tested engine, the Estilo is undoubtedly a smart, stylish package that should find a number of young buyers. More

How Volkswagen is saddling up for India
Volkswagen's small car is expected to be on the lines of the Polo, which is sold in Europe. And it will compete in the premium small-car segment More

STOCK MARKETS
Recognition heuristics
John, an acquaintance, recently won a prize. The participants in the game had to build a portfolio of stocks. The portfolio returns were compared with the average returns of five money managers. A participant ... More

Baskets of X
More

Bull's Eye
More

Details of bulk deal
More

DERIVATIVES MARKETS
F & O OUTLOOK
Nifty Futures may head for correction
Reliance Communication may turn weak More

CREDIT CARDS & DEBIT CARDS
CALL CENTRE
Swipe with caution
Plastic money has gone a long way in re-moulding consumer buying behaviour. With a credit card, you can buy whatever you want without having to pay then and there. Making money-less purchases has considerably altered people's spending behaviour, ... More

INCOME TAX
Are my gains too much?
I file my returns offering my income from share trading as capital gains. The share trading is done with actual delivery. My volume of transactions for the financial year 2003-04 was around Rs 80 lakh. My case for the assessment year 2004-05 ... More

IPOS
Nissan Copper: Avoid
Small scale of operations and substantial jump in equity base may prove to be a handicap for the company over the medium term. More

Ess Dee Aluminium: Avoid
Steep valuations, operational challenges and execution risk fail to lend credibility to Ess Dee Aluminium's initial public offering. More

XL Telecom: Avoid
Investors can refrain from taking an exposure in the initial public offering of equity by XL Telecom. The offer is being made in the price band of Rs 125 to Rs 150 per share. The company's latest foray into retail marketing of CDMA mobile ... More

RETAILING
Bharti-Wal-Mart foray into retail
Wal-Mart Stores, whose revenue equals the size of the Indian retail market, has circumvented foreign investment restrictions in the sector through its franchise agreement with the Bharti Group. Even as the Left cries foul, the new partners are ... More

BOOKS
A sense of history helps
"Looking at past trends in the markets assists in maintaining objectivity." More

Comments & Letters to the Editor to: bleditor@thehindu.co.in
Subscribe to: Business Line

Nifty Companies News
SE Diary
Stock Quotes

Top Stories
Reworking the large-cap portfolio

Demat Fraud: Who is to blame?

Query Corner

Double whammy for oil companies

A tax-saving exercise to perk up returns

Glaxo: Hold
Aventis: Buy

Looking back
Nov. 26-Dec. 2
Big cos seek a chunk of the retail pie

Tata-Corus: Debating the options

Is there room for several players?

Understanding the results announcements

A fare in the air

Varying the engine performance