Money on the markets

India stocks in 2010

The BSE Sensex rose more than 17 percent in 2010, to be among the best-performing major Asian markets this year. Most investors expecting the rally to continue.

Shares in Reliance Industries, India’s top listed firm, lost 2.8 percent in 2010., while ONGC shares added 9.8 percent.

TCS was a star performer, ending with gains of 55.3 percent. Infosys rose 32.2 percent in 2010.

Among sectors, it was a bad year for realty index which lost nearly 26 percent. The BSE IT Index rose 31.6 percent, while the BSE Oil & Gas Index gained 1.24 percent.

Which was your favourite stock in 2010 and where do you see India markets in 2011?

HUL shares end as top Sensex gainer

Shares in Hindustan Unilever jumped 3.5 percent on Wednesday to close at 304.55 rupees on a newspaper report in the Mint that the company had put a property in Mumbai for sale.

The asset was expected to fetch 2.2-2.5 billion rupees to the largest maker of household products and consumer goods.

The stock also ended as the top gainer in the 30-share BSE Sensex and the second best performer in BSE FMCG index.

Shares in HUL have so far gained 15.03 percent in 2010. Would you invest in this counter at this stage?

A2Z plunges on debut

Shares in A2Z Maintenance and Engineering Services made a peculiar trading debut on Thursday – opening above the issue price of 400 rupees per share on one exchange, and lower on another – before closing sharply down.

The counter opened at Rs 500 on the NSE, but immediately slipped below its issue price and ended 17.9 percent lower at 328.15 rupees. On the BSE, it closed 12.3 percent down at 328.90 rupees.

Do you think the counter provides a good opportunity for investors, or will it slip further?

Ispat Industries rises on open-offer talks

Shares of Ispat Industries rose more than 13 percent on Wednesday after JSW Steel made an open offer to acquire up to 20 percent stake in the firm at 20.54 rupees a share.

On Tuesday, JSW Steel said it would buy 41.3 percent stake in Ispat for $476 million to expand capacity.

Ispat Industries shares closed at 23.60 rupees and remained among the top-traded stocks on BSE.

Shares in Ispat have risen over 25 percent this month. Do you think it’s a good time to buy the counter?

Hero Honda shares surge 18 pct

Shares in Hero Honda gained 18 percent on Monday to close at 1981 rupees, ending as the top Sensex gainer, as Bank of America-Merrill Lynch raised its rating on the firm, with worries over the financial impact from Honda’s exit from their India motorcycle JV subsiding.

This was the best single-day gain in at least two years for the stock.

After market hours on Thursday, Hero Honda chief executive Pawan Munjal said Hero’s royalty payment to Honda would start declining from next year.

The shares are up around 6.5 percent since mid-October. Do you think this is the right time to enter this stock?

Funding your retirement with mutual funds

So you are in your mid 30s and invest regularly in mutual funds, but are you worried about having a retirement plan in your portfolio than can take care of life after 60?

If yes, the basic questions that would be bothering an individual are — How much money is needed at retirement? How should I build that corpus? How will I get a monthly income to sustain my lifestyle post-retirement?

There are many calculators available online which can calculate the amount you will require so that you start working towards creating that corpus.

Though the market is flooded with retirement plans, you can also consider building a huge retirement corpus with your existing mutual funds portfolio.

All you need is a little bit of number crunching, a good but small set of mutual funds (researched and selected yourself or with the help of an adviser) and you are ready with a plan.

Numerous personal finance tools are available on the Internet which can help calculate your retirement needs and the amount you need to invest monthly to achieve that target (SIP Calculator).

For instance, if the plan is to retire at 60 with 50 million rupees, a 35-year-old can create that corpus by investing around 15,000 rupees every month (assuming a return of 15 percent per annum).

Hero Honda falls on JV termination report

Shares in Hero Honda dropped as much as 9 percent on Wednesday, after a TV news channel reported the board of its Indian partner has approved the termination of the joint venture with Honda Motor.

Hero Corporate will acquire Honda Motor’s 26 percent stake in Hero Honda, for $1 billion to $1.2 billion, the channel said citing unnamed sources.

Shares in the company closed 5.4 percent lower at 1,621 rupees with 0.6 million shares.

Hero Honda shares have dropped over 15 percent so far this month. Do you see the counter dropping further?

RComm shares rise 2 pct

Shares in Reliance Communications rose 2 percent on Monday after it announced the launch of its third-generation (3G) mobile services in four cities.

The second-largest mobile operator said it would cover all its 13 zones by next March and investors hoped the new service would boost the company’s earnings potential.

Do you think it is the right time to invest in shares of Reliance Comm?

Good day for RIL shares

Shares in Reliance Industries, India’s top listed firm, gained 4 percent on Friday, helping the benchmark Sensex post gains of more than 250 points.

RIL, which has the highest weight in the Sensex, ended with volumes of 944,021 on BSE.

The stock had hit an intra-day low of 980 rupees but managed to recover.

Do you think it is the right time to invest in RIL shares?

BSE Banking Index dips

The BSE Sensex fell 2.3 percent on Thursday, with banking shares leading losses as fears of foreign funds’ withdrawals in the absence of any positive trigger weighed on investors’ minds.

State Bank of India and ICICI Bank led the decline in the broader market, dropping 4.3 percent and 4.4 percent respectively.

Shares in the banking index have gained over 20 percent so far this year, but any further monetary action by the Reserve Bank of India will weigh on the sector.

Do you think it is the right time to invest in this sector?