Stocks Archives - Wealthzi

BSE and NSE set up platforms to trade in international stocks from India

The India International Exchange (IFSC) Limited (India INX), Indiaâ€™s first international exchange based in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City), has announced it will add international stocks to trading, including shares from major US-listed companies via its wholly owned subsidiary India INX Global Access IFSC Limited (Global Access). It proposes to offer stocks from the US, Canada, UK, Europe, Australia, and Japan, covering about 80 percent of the investing universe.
Also, NSE International Exchange, a subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), plans to launch trading in US stocks at the Gift City.

Eventually, India INX will in the first phase provide access to over 130 exchanges across 31 countries worldwide covering global exchanges in America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Africa. Some of the exchanges to be offered are NYSE, Nasdaq, LSE, Canadian Securities Exchange, Toronto Stock Exchange, BATs Europe, Euronext France and Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Ashishkumar Chauhan, Chairman, India INX, said, â€œUnder the LRS route, resident individuals can use the India INX platform to transact and invest in global stocks in an easy and convenient manner. The addition of global stocks is a significant step that will bring further investment into the region from investors seeking contracts with a strong emphasis on liquidity and investability.â€

So, domestic retail investors will be able to transact on the platform under the liberalised remittance scheme (LRS) limits prescribed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which allow a resident individual to remit up to $250,000 (Rs 1.86 crore) per financial year.

India INX will roll out the functional details in terms of specifications about the products and will also soon launch trading in international stocks.

Members of India INX can access this facility at no additional membership costs.

NSE has not yet disclosed the US stocks that will be available for trading. The stocks will be listed under an unsponsored depositary receipt (DR) programme. Under this, DR of an underlying security is issued without the involvement or consent of the foreign company.

Transacting in US stocks is popular among domestic investors. Currently, several domestic brokerages facilitate this through a tie up with their foreign counterparts.

NSE has said the proposed framework will make US stocks affordable to retail investors and provide an option to trade in fractional quantity or value. Investors may have to open a separate demat account at the Gift City to transact on the proposed platform.

The exchange said depositories, banks and brokers have already started work on the proposed platform. Initially, NSE International Exchange will offer 50 US stocks for trading.

â€œWith the guidance of IFSC authority and the support of all the key stakeholders involved, we hope to operationalise this product soon,â€ said Vikram Limaye, MD & CEO, NSE.

Compared to existing system of tying up with US brokers, the stocks will be held in your demat account in GIFT City.

How the process works

1. Open an account with a broker registered with NSE IFSC Gift City. Complete KYC.

2. Remit funds through LRS facility for future investments

3. The arrangement will allow fractional ownership, beginning with US stocks

4. The Gift City clearing corporation will settle trades and guarantee the same

Taxation

You will be taxed in India for capital gain. You will not be taxed in the US. The amount of taxes you have to pay in India depends on how long you hold the investment. 24 months is the long-term capital gain threshold and the tax rate is 20% with indexation benefit.
Below 24 months is short-term capital gain and is taxed according to your income tax slab

Unlike investment gains, dividends will be taxed in the US at a flat rate of 25%. Fortunately, the US and India have a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA), which allows taxpayers to offset income tax already paid in the US. The 25% tax you already paid in the US is made available as Foreign Tax Credit and can be used to offset your income tax payable in India.

Rising bond yields: What it means for equity, debt investors

Indian financial markets and global financial markets right now have something in common: rising yields. By the end of third week of February, the average increase in India’s G-Sec yields across 3,5 & 10 years was around 31 basis points since the Union Budget on concerns of the market borrowing plans of the government. Things haven’t improved much. Currently, the 10-year G-Sec yield is now ruling at 6.25 per cent.

On the other hand, US yields have risen too. The 10-year US treasury yield has increased to nearly 1.5 per cent from 0.7 per cent six months ago, creating fear in the minds of investors across the globe. In this context, it is important for investors to understand how to read these changes for debt and equity investments.

Understanding rising yields

Simply put, rising yields on bonds means that bond prices are falling.

India’s G-Sec yields are not softening in a hurry. Research firm AcuitÃ© Ratings & Research expects Indiaâ€™s 10-year sovereign yield to rise to 6.40 per cent by March 2022.

From a classical economics standpoint, the rise in bond yields hikes up the cost of capital for companies. When the cost of capital rises for a company, it can affect earnings and, by extension, its valuations.

One thing is clear. Global and local central banks have kept interest rates low for long. So, the increase in yield is in-line with some normalisation that eventually had to happen.

Whenever the bond yield increases, investors are likely to withdraw from equities and look at bonds, who are offering higher money at lower risk.

Indian context

Yet, it is also true that some investors are panicking too much on account of the rising yields. Rising yields is not necessarily a very bad thing. The global rise in yields does not mean a ‘sell call’ on equities.

In the US, the key premise on which bond yields are rising or rather normalising to pre-Covid levels is that US economic recovery will be faster than earlier envisaged resulting in rising inflation. Is US and Indian economic recovery bad for equities? No!

“In our view, equities as an asset class perform better in an environment of â€˜rising growthâ€™ and â€˜moderate inflationâ€™. For example, despite the rise in Indian bond yields from ~5 per cent to 9 per cent and US yields from 3.5 per cent to 5 per cent from 2003 – 2007 as demand-led inflation picked up, global stock markets including India had their best run as growth kept surprising on the upside,” says ICICI Securities.

However, do keep a close watch on the situation. You can take a negative stance when the environment has rising yields and slowing growth or stagflation. This happened in the 2012-2013 period when India GDP growth dipped to ~5 per cent while yields climbed to 9 per cent, coinciding with the taper tantrum. This is the worst environment for stocks.

How to play debt funds

Enough of explanation for equities, let us look at debt – specifically debt funds. The fundamental characteristic of your debt fundâ€™s return is guided by yields. As yields move up the prices of bonds fall. This fall is sharper in longer duration bonds and slower in lower duration bonds.

But if yields move up, the fall in bond prices will be inevitable. So, when yield moves up, there can be losses in debt funds. When the yield up move is gradual, the fall in returns will be gentle. When the yield jump is sharp, the fall in debt fund returns will be sharp.

Do note that debt funds with longer duration are more sensitive than the ones with shorter duration.
The yield impact on debt funds’ existing investments will be progressively lower as and when the funds start buying bonds with higher coupon rate.

Note: If you would like to know what should be your portfolio strategy in an environment of rising yields, connect with the experts at Wealthzi.

All you wanted to know about Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) IPO

The Rs 4600-crore initial public offer (IPO) of public sector NBFC Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) is hitting the markets next week. IRFC IPO will be the first by a non-banking financial company (NBFC) in PSU segment. Here is all you wanted to know about this awaited share-sale.

What is IRFC

Indian Railway Finance Corporation has its registered office in New Delhi. The company has 26 permanent employees. IRFC is the dedicated market borrowing arm of the Indian Railways. It is wholly-owned by the Government and registered with the RBI as an NBFC.

Its primary business is financing the acquisition of Rolling Stock Assets and Project Assets of the Indian Railways and lending to other entities under the Ministry of Railways.

For fiscal 2021, the target to be borrowed from IRFC is Rs 625.67 billion. For FY20, IRFC posted a profit of Rs 3,192 crore and earnings per share was Rs 3.40. The company has generated strong revenue growth in last four years.

When does the IPO open

The IPO will open on January 18 and close on January 20.

What is the price band

The price band for the IPO will be Rs 25-26 per share.

What are IPO details

The issue size is for up to 178.20 crore shares, out of which 118.8 crore shares is the fresh issue, and 59.40 crore shares is under offer for sale. The offer for sale proceeds will go the Government of India. The net proceeds of the fresh issue are proposed to be utilised towards augmenting IRFC equity capital base to meet future capital requirements arising out of growth in business, and general corporate purposes. The face value of each share is Rs 10.

As per a tweet by Secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, “IRFC coming up for listing with a Rs 4600 crore+ issue in a price band of Rs 25-26 per share. Anchor book on Jan 15 and the Main book from Jan 18-20.”

Pre-IPO, the Government of India controlled 100% of the company. Upon completion of the issue, the GoI will control approximately 86.36% of IRFC paid-up equity share capital.

What is the minimum IPO investment

The lot size is 575 shares. So, at the upper band of Rs 26 per share, the minimum IPO investment for IRFC will be Rs 14,950.

What is the IPO listing date

IPO shares will be listed on bourses on Jan. 28-29 (tentative).

How does IRFC earn money

The vast majority of IRFC revenue is generated from leasing Rolling Stock Assets to the Indian Railways. Lease income, interest on loans and pre commencement lease interest income together represented 99.75% and 99.87% of IRFC total revenue from operations in Fiscal 2020 and in the six months ended September 30, 2020, respectively.

The business and revenues are substantially dependent on the policies of the MoR (Railways Ministry) and operations of the Indian Railways. Therefore, the overall prospects of IRFC business are closely tied to the relationship with the MoR.

It operates on a cost-plus based model. In Fiscal 2020, IRFC was entitled to a margin of 40 bps over the weighted average cost of incremental borrowing for financing Rolling Stock Assets. In Fiscal 2018, the margin for financing Rolling Stock Assets was reduced to 30 bps from 50 bps in Fiscal 2017.

How does IRFC raise money

IRFC funding requirements historically have been met through various sources including from taxable and tax-free bonds in India, term loans from banks/ financial institutions, external commercial borrowings including bonds and syndicated loans, internal accruals, asset securitization and lease financing. Its Cost of Borrowings was 6.82%, 7.09% and 7.27% in Fiscals 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively, and 3.55% (non-annualized) in the six months ended September 30, 2020.

Do note IRFC is a non-deposit taking NBFC, and so has restricted access to funds in comparison to banks and deposit taking NBFCs. IRFC has in the past raised money from LIC.

What are the company’s debt ratings

IRFC has been accorded ratings of â€˜AAAâ€™ by CRISIL, â€˜ICRA (AAA)â€™ by ICRA and â€˜CARE AAAâ€™ by CARE each with respect to its debt programme.

International credit rating agencies such as Moodyâ€™s have rated IRFC Baa3 (Negative) while Fitch, Standard & Poorâ€™s and Japan Credit Rating Agency have rated BBB-â€˜Negativeâ€™, BBB- (Stable) and BBB+ (Stable).

What is the valuation of IRFC shares sold in IPO

NBFCs are usually valued based on Return on average Net Worth (RoNW). The six months ended September 2020 RoNW % is 6.09, which if annualized becomes 12.18%. The RoNW for FY20 was 11.57%.

There are no listed peers to IRFC business at the moment.

From Net Asset Value perspective, IRFC NAV is Rs 26.67 per share as on Sept. 30, 2020. So, IPO stock price is at a small discount to NAV.

Who are BRLMs to this IPO

The book running lead managers to the issue are DAM Capital Advisors Limited (formerly known as IDFC Securities Limited), HSBC Securities and Capital Markets (India) Private Limited, ICICI Securities Limited and SBI Capital Markets Limited.

Why you should invest in equities only for the long term

There are many kinds of buyers and sellers in the stock market. They are often classified as speculators, traders or investors based on how they view the stock investments and how long they are holding the stocks.

While speculators are those who look at the daily or hourly movements of stocks in the stock markets, traders are those who buy or sell stocks on a daily or weekly basis. Speculators and traders churn stocks very frequently. This could in a few months, weeks or days, sometimes even a few minutes. Investors, on the other hand, donâ€™t look at the technical indicators for the stocks. They look at the fundamentals, financials and management philosophy of the company or the mutual fund house before investing in the stocks or mutual funds. They hold the investments for years or even decades to make profits over the long term. While speculators and traders have more possibility for losses, there will be very limited losses for investors if they choose the right stocks or mutual funds. Hereâ€™s why you need to be an investor in equities who invests for the long term.

No need to time the market

Trading is a different game. To be successful at trading, the trader needs to have a certain amount of money to start with. This is often much higher than that needed for an investor. Traders need to dedicate time on a daily basis if they want to make profits. Traders also need to develop a level of experience for identifying when to buy and sell stocks. Trading profits are made by buying at a lower price and selling at a higher price. This needs to be done within a relatively short period of time. This could result in profits or losses. So, the traders need to have high risk tolerance. So, it is clear that traders need to time their investments and not everyone can be a trader.

However, an investor neednâ€™t keep reviewing the investments on a daily basis. The investor needs to do some basic research on the investment or can take the help of an investment advisor to choose the right stocks or mutual funds for the long term. Investors neednâ€™t bother about short term downturns in stock prices. On a day-to-day basis, stock prices experience fluctuations. However, in the long run, stock prices reflect the value of the business. Therefore, a stockâ€™s price will move upwards in the long term if the fundamentals of the company are good.

Lower possibility of losses

Since stock prices are not predictable, traders can make profits or losses depending on the movements of the markets. If they donâ€™t monitor the prices or donâ€™t predict them well, they could lose some part of the capital they invested. This is not the case for investors.

Equity markets tend to do well over the long term. Take the Nifty 50 index. 15 years back, the Nifty was at 1900 levels. Today, Nifty has touched 12,900. So, markets keep moving up over the long term.

Apart from the capital gains that investors get when markets move upwards, investors can even earn income such as dividends while they are holding the stocks or equity funds. So, the prospects of investors making losses on investments over the long term is low.

Why short-term equity investing doesnâ€™t work?

Let us consider the monthly returns from Nifty 50 this year to understand this.

Month	January	February	March	April	May
Nifty Returns	-1.7%	-6.3%	14.7%	-2.8%	7.5%

If you wanted to invest on a monthly basis, you would have had to time the market. While the markets have given negative returns most of the months, there are months where there are positive returns. Letâ€™s take another year, say 2014.

Month	January	February	March	April	May
Nifty Returns	-3.4%	3%	6.81%	-0.1%	7.9%

There are months were the Nifty has provided negative returns, there is no pattern in returns on a monthly basis. What about yearly returns? Can you invest in the markets for a year and make profits? The data below will help.

Year	Nifty Return
2012	27.7%
2013	6.7%
2014	31%
2015	-4%
2016	3%
2017	29%
2018	3.1%
2019	12%

Even if you wanted to invest for a year which is a short term, you would have had to time the markets. So, investing for the short term doesnâ€™t work for equities.

However, long term investing does work. If you look at the five-year return for Nifty, it is a good 63%. What about ten-year returns? It is 119%.

Therefore, equity investors need to give time for their investments to do well and for returns to compound over a long period. Remaining invested for a minimum period of 5-7 years is advisable for equity. This way you can gradually build wealth over an extended period of time. You can get the benefits of perks such as dividends and stock splits along the way. You will “ride out” the downtrends in the stock market in the long run.

How to avoid the ‘loss aversion’ effect

No one loves losses. Almost all investors hate to look at losses on their portfolio statements. And most of us display more emotions when we make a loss on an investment as compared to when we make a gain. This is called loss aversion effect.

This effect is a behavioural trait that indicates losses and gains are perceived differently by investors. It says that investors are more likely to make investment decisions based on their perceived gains rather than losses. It says that if two decisions are put before an individual, both equivalent, with one being potential profits and the other being potential losses, the previous alternative will be picked.

How did the effect originate?

The loss aversion effect or the Prospect hypothesis was found way back in 1979. However, it was additionally researched in 1992 by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman. Research done by these Israeli therapists on intellectual predispositions and limited objectivity was pathbreaking. Kahneman had won the Nobel prize in 2002 for the work on Prospect Theory.

Tversky and Kahneman recommended that misfortunes cause a more prominent effect on a person than does an identical measure of profits. For instance, suppose you will get Rs. 35,000. One choice is you are given Rs. 35,000 immediately. The other alternative is you gain Rs. 70,000 and you will lose Rs. 35,000. You are getting a similar measure of cash in both the alternatives. In any case, you may be well on the way to decide to get straight money on the grounds that a solitary profit is appearing to be more positive than at first having money and afterwards giving it up.

This behaviour trait is found in investors as well. For investors, holding loss making investment is common as opposed to cutting their losses. Investors are hesitant to sell an investment when it is making losses. They are anxious to sell investments when they are doing incredibly well. This is to book profits to bring in cash.

Here’s an example. Suppose an investment advisor recommends a mutual fund to an investor. He says that the fund’s return is 14% over the past five years. At that point, another advisor recommends the same mutual fund and says that the fund has given better than expected returns. However, the one-year return is low. As indicated by the Prospect hypothesis, the investor is bound to purchase the fund from the first counsellor who said that the fund’s pace of return has been good.

How does this affect investors?

Loss averse investors often lose out on higher profits because of the effect. How? There are people in India who believe that the stock markets are for gamblers. Even some investors who are less than 30 years of age believe that the markets are hazardous. This is a reason given by them as to why they have preference towards fixed-income investments such as bank deposits and government schemes. Along these lines, loss aversion or the dread of losing one’s capital gets people to refrain from investing in equities. This will influence their portfolio returns over the long haul. On the off chance that they don’t pick investments that beat inflation, their real returns will be low.

Another point is investors dismiss their asset allocation because of the loss aversion effect. Typically, when you are young, you can afford to take more risks. However, loss aversion could make your asset allocation skewed. How? Investors who need to invest in equities for their life goals might invest in only bank fixed deposits because of the loss aversion effect. So, they won’t be able to increase their wealth significantly even in a decade, let alone save for their financial goals.

The common mistake that loss averse investors make is not selling a losing stock or mutual fund. So, typically investors wait for the investment to go beyond the price at which they bought it. This may or may not happen depending on several factors such as the investment’s fundamentals, industry environment and market movements. If the investor decides to wait, the price could go down further. If the investor waits for too long to exit or spends more money to buy it to recover losses, then he/she is loss averse. This behaviour will negatively impact their investments. While the investor is waiting, there might be other investments that could provide higher returns. So, loss aversion could lead to wasted time and efforts by the investor.

How to avoid this?

Several investors let their emotional quotient overtake their intelligence quotient. Loss aversion is part of this. Understand that you need to have logic when you choose investments. You need to set aside your emotions and look at the investments objectively. This will help you decide whether the investment is worth holding on to or whether you should be selling it. Cultivating an attitude to taking losses in your stride can help you a good investor. Try to make sure that you don’t repeat your investment mistakes. You should know when to add more money to your portfolio and which investments are likely to do well in the long run.

If you are in doubt, take the help of your consultant at Wealthzi.com.

How to increase your savings

Everyone seems to running on a tight budget, irrespective of whether they are earning an annual salary of Rs. 1 lakh or Rs. 1 crore, thanks to the need for a better lifestyle and increasing inflation. If you didn’t know, for those in the highest tax bracket, one-third of their salary goes away in taxes, another third is eaten away by expenses while the remaining is the only part that is saved, if there are no contingencies. So, if you want to save more in the long run, it is essential that you strive to increase your savings whenever you can. Here are ways you could save.

Use those hikes

Every year you might receive salary hikes. The biggest mistake people make is enhancing their lifestyle and keeping their investments intact when they start earning more. If they need to really increase the rate of their savings along with the increase in their income / salary, they need to use their hikes to invest more. This is the easiest way to enhance savings over time. So, whenever you get a hike, increase the amount you put in your mutual funds as lumpsum or using the Systematic Investment Plans (SIP). You could increase your monthly recurring deposits (RD) along with that of other regular investments.

Go automatic

People tend to forget things when it is not mandatory unless it’s something like paying bills. This is the reason why automating your savings and investments is the best way forward. For instance, let’s say you manually invest in fixed deposits after the 15^th of every month. You might forget to invest or put in a lower amount than intended or use the funds for some other expenses as they might be in your savings account. This will lower your savings over time. To avoid this, you could use auto sweep-in accounts or give auto-debit instructions for your deposits. You can do that for your mutual funds too. Note that when investments become regular and automatic, it will help in creating a good amount in the long run.

Cut investing costs

Every investment involves costs. This includes deposits, stocks, mutual funds, among others. You need to keep a tab on investing costs so that they don’t might eat into your actual investments. Higher costs might lead to you investing lower amounts than intended. For instance, if you are using the services of an online brokerage, review your brokerage plan at least once a year. Also, choose a plan based on your trades and when trading, choose financial products that will cost you less. For mutual funds, choose direct plans that will cost you less than regular funds. But remember to take the advice of an expert before your choose your fund, and periodically to rebalance your funds.

Invest more after loan repayments

You might take loans for several purposes such as purchasing a car or a house. When you pay back the loan, you will have excess cash in hand. Instead of spending that money, you could save a part of that money every month as if it were a loan commitment. This might sound very tough and you might be tempted to dip into the funds. However, diligence on your part will help you save a big amount over time.

Do some budgeting

When you make purchases such as consumer electronics or household appliances, draw a budget. If you are able to purchase those items at prices lower than the allocated budget, don’t use the extra money to splurge on other consumer products. You could deposit the money into your savings account or invest it in a financial product.

Lower loan costs

For most individuals, major expenses every month might be their Equated Monthly Instalment (EMI). Usually high EMIs are because of high interest rates. You could reduce your EMI if you choose a floating interest rate option that’s in line with market rates. You could also consider putting in more money to close the loan earlier or shift your loan to a lower cost one after you assess the costs of doing so.

Wait it out

As you might know, long term deposits earn higher interest rates than short term ones. So, when you invest in deposits choose longer tenures. This will help you earn higher income and also ensure that you don’t dip into the funds because of the penalties. You could invest for the long run in equities too as they provide inflation beating returns only if the investment is over five years.

Invest windfalls

It is important to invest windfalls such as your annual bonus, incentives and inheritance. However, you need to plan them well. The higher the amount, the more careful your planning needs to be. Lower amounts might go into your deposits. For significant amounts you must invest in equity and debt for the best returns.

Plan for cutting taxes

Taxes are your first expense. Without proper tax planning you might end up losing a lot of your hard-earned money.

Be conservative

Both the stock and the debt markets entail high volatility which means fluctuating returns. Take the present scenario. The Sensex has come back after falling significantly at the start of the year. But the stocks are at the same level as what it were last year. Hence, always have conservative estimates for your investments. Also, higher return expectations from investments could lead to lower accumulation of savings. You might not be able to meet your goals because of lack of funds. Always keep your expectations realistic. If the returns exceed your expectations, sell some of your investments and put them in safer avenues.

Inflation woes

Even though general inflation is on the decline, you should always consider inflation while investing for the long run. Without inflation estimates, you might find that your savings are worth much lesser than what you thought.

Always review your investments to weed out underperformers, if any and check if you are saving enough to achieve your life goals.

Need help with investments? Reach out to your consultant at Wealthzi.com.

How to avoid portfolio overlap while investing in mutual funds

You have different funds in your portfolio. They are equity funds. However, they are of different varieties – one is large cap fund, another thematic fund, one other is a multi-cap fund and another is a mid-cap fund. So, you think you have a diversified portfolio. Is this a right assumption? Not always.

You cannot avoid portfolio concentration risk by just investing in different kinds of equity funds. Why? Because mutual funds might have different names but they could invest in the same stocks. This means you, as an investor, are investing in the same stocks leading to portfolio overlap. There’s nothing wrong with this if you have invested in many funds. However, if you have invested in a few funds, this could be very risky for you.

Your portfolio could have company-specific risk or sector-specific risk. You don’t want your portfolio to be overly dependent on a few stocks, right? Portfolio overlap defeats the whole purpose of diversification. So, here are a few things you should keep in mind to avoid any portfolio overlaps.

Use the style box

A style box is a graphical representation of a mutual fund’s characteristics. This was made popular by Morningstar. The style box is a valuable tool used to determine the asset allocation of the fund. There are slightly different style boxes used for equity and fixed-income funds.

For equity funds, the style box provides the portfolio’s investing style that will include value, blend, or growth and the asset-weighted size which are large-, mid-, or small-cap. For debt funds, it represents duration that is short, intermediate, or long and credit quality which is high, mid, or low.

The style box will tell you about your manager’s investment style. This will help you avoid investing in same kind of funds. How? For instance, if you look at the style box, you won’t invest in mid cap value funds if you already have such funds in your portfolio. If you already have mid-value funds, try increasing your investments in large-blend or small-value offerings.

Look at the top holdings

Any two mutual funds’ portfolios may look different. However, you need to be aware of whether you hold too much of a particular stock. For instance, let’s say you have two large cap funds and both the fund managers may have made outsized commitments to HDFC Bank. This will increase your company-specific risk.

If you invested in only a few funds, you could examine each fund’s top holdings and weights to see if there are investments in a particular company. If you have too many funds in your portfolio, take the help of your financial advisor.

Consider the sectors

Even if you find that you don’t have individual stock exposure, you may still be overexposed to one or two sectors of the market.

For instance, let’s take banking and financial services, a sector that has received a lot of attention in the past decade. Banking has been a wonderful long-term return story. So, fund managers have often invested a lot of money in the banking stocks. However, we know that one of the reasons why the market volatility was so painful for some of us in the past year is because of this industry. Investors were generally more exposed to this sector than they had realized.

Growth funds usually had large banking weightings with lofty prices and even loftier earnings expectations. Mid- and small-growth funds held more than 40 per cent in banking and financial services. More recently, exposures to this sector have declined slightly as managers have realized the risks involved.

So, it’s a good idea to look at your portfolio regularly to make sure that it hasn’t gotten too skewed towards a particular industry.

Don’t buy too many large cap funds

Advisors often talk about how large caps are a safe bet. Why? Because large cap stocks are easy to buy and they are pretty simple to understand. However, most large cap funds invest in the same stocks. Most of them might invest in stocks from the Sensex or the Nifty. Understand that the large-cap universe is relatively small. Less than 15 per cent of all stocks can be classified as ‘large cap’. So, investing in too many large cap stocks could lead to investing in the same stocks. It is important for investors to avoid large-cap addiction, especially large-cap funds from the same fund family.

Don’t buy funds run by the same fund manager

Mr. Z is a good fund manager and her funds give great returns. So, you can invest in all her funds, right? Not exactly. Just like everyone has their own style of working, fund managers have theirs. Each manager has a style that they might follow irrespective of the fund they run. For instance, if the fund manager is bullish on a particular stock, she might make sure that that stock is a part of all the funds she manages. So, the investor who invests in all her funds is taking on more stock-specific risk because the percentage of that stock will go up in their portfolio. Imagine investing half of your money in ICICI Bank or Bajaj Auto? You could miss the bull-run in other stocks. Also, when that stock falls, your entire return will get hit. So, even if you are totally in love with a fund manager, stick to buying two of their funds.

Diversification across mutual funds is as important as diversifying across asset classes.

Factors affecting the stock market

If you have been a stock investor for several years, you should have known by now that a stock’s demand and supply dynamics are not the only thing that moves the stock market. There are many other factors including news that affects the stock markets. The news can be any kind of news such as stock specific news, macro-economic news or global market news.

Markets don’t react to only news that has already broken, they react to anticipated news too. In fact, markets react more rapidly to rumours and theories. Our stock markets have the tendency to discount events much before they happen. So, here’s a look at all the factors that will affect the stock market.

Institutional investor inflows

This is one of the most important factors that have a major influence on the market sentiments. Institutional investors include Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) and Domestic Institutional Investors (DII). FIIs invest into the Indian markets for many reasons including the fact that interest rates here are higher than in developed markets and emerging equity markets have the potential of providing higher returns than those in developed nations. DIIs include mutual funds that buy shares and bonds.

FIIs and DIIs with their huge amount of investible surplus have the ability to turn around market sentiments when they deploy money in the equity market. Take for instance, the month of January 2020. FIIs were net sellers during the month and according to the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) data, their net outflows from the equity markets during the month totalled Rs 5,359 crores. The Sensex lost over 3.3% during the month.

Interest rate changes

The interest rates in the country affect a number of major economic factors including bank deposit rates, loan rates, demand for goods and services, consumption, industrial growth, among others. Interest rates have an impact on the stock market too. Any major change in interest rates affects the ‘rate sensitive’ sectors of the stock market more than the others. These include banks (which provide loans), automobile companies (which depend on consumers who avail auto loans) and real estate (which depend on people who avail housing loans).

Data

There are several Indian as well as international economic data that are released every week, month or quarter that has an impact on the stock markets. These include Index of Industrial production (IIP), Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimates, manufacturing data, consumer sentiment, among others. Markets react within minutes to news on these numbers being released. Not only national, international economic data also has an impact on Indian markets.

Currency movements

Depreciation or appreciation of the Indian rupee against the US dollar, British pound and other currencies always has an impact on the equity market. Rupee movements also have an impact on certain sectors that import or export goods or deal with foreign clients.

Monsoon

India is largely dependent on the monsoon every year for staples such as rice and wheat. So, any news on the monsoon has a great impact on the market. A favourable monsoon tends to have a positive impact on the markets.

National/International events

Union Budget, RBI policy reforms, national or state elections – you name any political, economic or national/international event; they have an impact on the stock market. For instance, a surge in coronavirus cases outside China triggered a selloff in global equity markets on 24^th Feb, 2020. Indian markets were affected too. Indian stock market benchmark Sensex tanked by over 800 points to 40,363.23, wiping out over Rs. 3 lakh crore of investors’ wealth.

Investor confidence and expectations

A key factor that sways the market is the mood of the investors. If they receive positive news that gives optimism then they are more likely to buy shares. If they receive bad news they will sell. For instance, if investors feel the worst for the economic recession is over, the stock market can rally even when economic fundamentals remain poor.

Inflation

Inflation is a huge driver of the stock market. Historically, low inflation has had a strong inverse correlation with stock valuations. Deflation, on the other hand, is generally bad for stocks because it is considered a loss in pricing power for companies.

Unusual Transactions

Any purchases or sales of a stock motivated by something other than its intrinsic value can move the stock market. Transactions such as executive insider trades can have an impact on the equity markets.

Liquidity

Market liquidity is an important factor. It refers to how much interest investors have in a stock. Liquidity is about the trade-off between the speed of the sale and the price it can be sold for. In a liquid market, you can sell quickly without the sale reducing the price much. In a relatively illiquid market, selling quickly will result in fall of price by some amount.

Large-cap stocks have high liquidity as they are well followed and heavily transacted. Many small-cap stocks have liquidity issues because they simply are not on many of the investors’ radar screens.

Apart from all these factors, it would be prudent for you to note that you should not take any decisions based on any of the news unless it is company specific. Always look at individual companies and their long-term earning potential. When you hear company specific news, confirm the same from the company to verify if the news is true or false.

If you are not sure about how to invest in stocks, invest in mutual funds. They invest in stocks on your behalf and have known to give better returns than traditional investments in the long-run.

PMS Vs Mutual Funds: Here is what you want to know

Portfolio Management Services or PMS are similar to mutual funds. However, they are offered only to High Networth Individuals or people having a large amount of surplus money. Most financial institutions promise customisation for your investments and say you will get higher returns when compared to other investments. This may not always be true. Here’s why PMS is not for all.

The difference between PMS and mutual funds

PMS are investment services that are based on your return expectations, financial requirements and risk profile. The services are provided for a fee. PMS are presently offered by independent brokerages, banks, mutual fund houses and other financial institutions.

Mutual funds are investments offered by Asset Management Companies (AMC). You need to choose the mutual fund based on your financial requirements and risk profile. There might or might not be a cost for investing in mutual funds.

Minimum investment

The Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has increased the minimum investment for PMS from Rs 25 lakhs to Rs 50 lakhs. It’s just Rs 500 for most mutual funds and in some cases Rs 100 only.

Customisation

Mutual funds cannot be customised as per the needs of the investors. Even though PMS offers customisation, typically firms will offer this only to those who have a very large investible corpus of Rs 1 crore or more.

Most of the PMS firms including banks offer discretionary PMS services. Here, you will be given a few model portfolios. You need to choose a particular portfolio. The portfolio models will be different in terms of their style of investing. You need to take a look at the past performance of the portfolios.

Terms of investment

Note that PMS is an agreement between you and the service provider. So, the onus is on you to ensure that the terms are in your best interest. If you are investing in mutual funds, the terms are the same for all funds as it will be according to guidelines given by SEBI.

Charges

PMS charges are much higher than that of mutual funds as it provides more customised offering compared to a mutual fund. SEBI hasn’t set any limits for charges for PMS so far. According to SEBI, “a portfolio manager shall charge a fee as per the agreement with the client for rendering portfolio management services. The fee so charged may be a fixed amount or a return-based fee or a combination of both.” So, the cost structure might be ambiguous.

You will find that the charges are usually in two formats. One is the fixed fee model while the other is the profit-sharing model. Some could offer a combination of both. PMS firms will also charge you fund management fees. This will be apart from the depository charges, and GST. For instance, ASK Investment Managers Ltd. charges a fixed fee of 2.5% per year or you can pay 1.5% and opt for a profit-sharing model where ASK will get 20% of the gains if the returns are over 10%.

So, PMS charges can be as high as 3-5% of your investment. You can invest in a mutual fund with under 1% if you choose direct plans. Even if you use an advisor, there are mutual funds with the expense ratio as low as 0.5% of your investment.

Smaller industry

Consider this: The PMS industry is said to be worth Rs. 48,000 crores while the mutual fund industry is worth more than Rs. 27 lakh crores. The PMS industry is minuscule when compared to the mutual fund industry. So, the number of PMS products are also much lesser than the mutual funds that are available for you to invest.

Transparency

PMS firms need to tell you which securities were bought, which were sold and what profits were made. You can also know exactly at what price these investments were made. However, this is at the discretion of the firm. Some firms provide these statements every month while other give quarterly statements. Also updating your investment portfolio will differ from firm to firm. Some firms may update your latest portfolio statements on a daily basis while others might update only once in 15 days. With mutual funds, the NAV will be declared every day and you can get it from any of the financial institutions’ websites.

The returns

As you know, PMS is a high-risk product. The returns will become visible only in the long run. Historical data shows that genuine PMS products can only give you only slightly higher returns than mutual funds. You must understand that it’s not guaranteed you will get phenomenal returns using PMS. Note that according to SEBI guidelines, PMS firms cannot promise even indicative returns, let alone guaranteed returns.

There are a number of things that PMS firms will tell you but you should be proactive and ask them questions instead of blindly believing everything they say.

Lock-in period

PMS products usually have no lock in period. However, most of them have an exit load if you decide to close the account within a year. The average charge could be anywhere between 1.5% and 3%. Most PMS firms will not allow you withdraw partially. With open-ended funds, you can withdraw your money any time. There are funds with no exit loads.

Taxation

Most PMS companies hold stocks in your own demat or account only. So the taxation is like any other equity investment – short term capital gains tax of 15% and long term capital gains tax of 10% for returns exceeding Rs 1 lakh a year.

For equity mutual funds too, the taxation is similar with long term capital gains only 10% if the gains are over Rs. 1 lakh, and short term capital gains tax of 15%.

Ideally, you should opt for PMS only if you have a corpus of at least more than Rs 1 crore, and you can keep it away for five years or more. It is substantially different from the standard mutual funds. For any other investors with lower corpus, mutual funds are more convenient and easier to invest in.

Should you book your profits now?

If you had invested in the Indian stock markets towards the end of April, you might be sitting pretty today. The Sensex has given returns of 21.99% in the last three months. In the past month, returns are well over 5%, which is much more than what you can expect from your savings account. Even the Nifty has given about 23% in the past quarter. The numbers seem to tell you that you can sell those investments that you hold. However, booking profits can never be based on the markets. Here’s what you need to do when you want to sell your investments.

#1 Take a look at your asset allocation

When the equities portion of your portfolio has exceeded the target asset allocation, then, it is the right time to sell. For example, if you had an asset allocation of 50:40:10 for equities, debt and cash and now that equities have run up, your allocation is 65:25:10, then you will need to sell some of your equity investments and put the money in debt investments to maintain your asset allocation. This is essential for the risk averse investors more than the risk-taking investors. Look at realignment if your target asset allocation has changed by more than 5%. This is because realignments come at a cost that includes transactions costs and capital gains taxes. However, if your asset allocation is just fine, you can afford to stick to your equity investments as they will give good returns in the long run – this is if you have chosen the right stocks and mutual funds.

#2 Consider your goals

It is prudent for an investor to make allocations based on the time horizon for their financial goals. If you have invested for the long term, you shouldn’t sell your equity investments. However, if you had invested for a medium-term goal and your goal is just a year or two away, then, this is the right time to sell off those equity investments and put them into debt investments to safeguard the capital and the gains from your equity investments. When you invest for the long term (that is more than 5 years), it doesn’t make any sense to book profits in a year or two.

#3 Evaluate your target portfolio returns

An investor should always look at reasonable returns from his/her portfolio. If the returns exceed their expectations, it is prudent to book profits in the asset class that has outperformed. If you want to achieve your financial goals, you have to book profits only after any of the asset classes have outperformed significantly. For example, let’s say you were expecting returns of 15% from your equity investments. However, they have given returns of 21%. Now, you should book partial profits and see if you need to put more money in equities or debt investments.

#4 Talk to your financial advisor

If you are an intuitive investor who thinks that there are certain stocks or mutual funds that have given stellar returns only because of the pandemic and may not outperform in the long run, talk to your financial consultant at Welathzi. They will be able to help you with market trends, industry data and fund information that can help you assess whether you should hold on to a stock or mutual fund. If some stocks or funds such as credit risk funds have gone out of favour, consider exiting them. They can help you invest in alternate asset classes if you are selling your investments. However, it is wise not to invest in asset classes that have already done really well. For example, the one-year return for gold has crossed 50% and investments in gold at this point may not yield reasonable returns in the long run. Your common sense and the consultant’s financial literacy will help you make the right investment decisions.

#5 Find out the value of your investments

The value of your investment is not the price of the stock or the Net Asset Value (NAV) of the fund. It is the value of the business for the former and the right portfolio for the latter. When a fund is underperforming when compared to peers or a stock seems to be running out of profits, you can consider selling the investment and look at investing in other stocks or mutual funds. You can even consider cashing in when the fund’s objectives change or the stock’s business isn’t lucrative anymore. So, when it comes to selling decisions for stocks and mutual funds, always assess the individual investments rather than looking at market trends.

Doubts? Wealthzi can help you. Get in touch with your consultant now.

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Institutional investor inflows

Interest rate changes

Data

Currency movements

Monsoon

National/International events

Investor confidence and expectations

Inflation

Unusual Transactions

Liquidity

The difference between PMS and mutual funds

Minimum investment

Customisation

Terms of investment

Charges

Smaller industry

Transparency

The returns

Lock-in period

Taxation

#1 Take a look at your asset allocation

#2 Consider your goals

#3 Evaluate your target portfolio returns

#4 Talk to your financial advisor

#5 Find out the value of your investments

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