November 29th, 2007 
Deepak SENSEX 20K: Will the sight blink? Politics, Macro- Economics, good earnings reports and a few positive corporate developments took the Indian stock market to yet another high. The Sensex was powered, especially by energy, metals and banking stocks, in its 639 points (3.47 per cent) climb to reach a record close of 19,058.67. Wire money online to India with Xoom.com for as low as $4.99. The Sensex has now gained 3,000 points in just over four weeks. Retail investors have been either on the sidelines or booking profits during the last 2,000-point rally even as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued to be net buyers, pouring in over $7 billion since September 18. Buy at whatever prices stocks are available, brokers are telling retail clients. But some brokers caution investors to develop a long-term focus. A research study released by ING Investment said most participants from the 13 Asia-Pacific countries where they conducted a survey believed the investment climate would continue to be positive, though they did not expect their return on investment to be as strong as the previous three months. But 83 per cent of the respondents in China and 75 per cent in India said return on investments in the next three months would be as strong as the previous three. The survey findings suggest a possible correlation between investors’ level of sophistication and their confidence in the market. While investors in more mature economies such as Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore are seen to be more conservative in their outlook; those in India and China, on the contrary, are extremely optimistic, possibly due to their short investing history. Brokerages reported some amount of profit booking by individuals but mutual fund houses said inflows there was no rush for redemptions. In this frenzied atmosphere stock recommendations and market outlook are flowing in through mobile text messages. While the Securities and Exchange Board of India might have come up with strict rules for investment advisors, there are several SMS messages people get from, to whom the former do not know. The rupee ended stronger at 39.30/31 a dollar on strong capital inflows into the equity market amid dollar buying by state-owned banks at the behest of the Reserve bank of India. In restricted activity at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market, the local currency was trapped in a small range of 39.29 and 39.37 after resuming steady at 39.34/36 [...]
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