Track SC verdict on coal mines

Buoyed by continued buying from foreign investors and ignoring the SC’s ruling on coal blocks; markets recorded their fourth consecutive monthly gain during the week ended. Benchmark indices — the Sensex and the Nifty — gained 0.5 to 0.8 per cent to close at 26,638 and 7,954 respectively. Good first quarter GDP growth numbers over the weekend may help markets open on a strong note during the early part of next week. Better than expected agricultural growth and indications of a revival in the manufacturing sector are big positives.

Track the SC ruling on coal blocks allocation for impact on sectors like power, metals, banking and mining. Despite concerns like ISIS, Ukraine and Ebola, global investors are gung ho about markets. With the US looking healthier than others, marketmen do not expect any significant correction in the near term. For the week ahead, chartists predict a trading range of 26,250 and 27,000 for the Sensex and 7,825 and 8,075 for the Nifty. Immediate supports for the indices are at 26,425 and 26,250 and 7,890 and 7,840.

Waiting too long to buy, until every uncertainty is removed is a wrong strategy. The present rally is not a bubble like earlier ones, use declines to invest for the long term.

An investor should always realise that some mistakes are going to be made; but remember that a little bit of a great many number of stocks can never be more than a poor substitute for a few outstanding stocks.