Colombo Stock Exchange Index opened in January 2009 at its lowest point. The Global Financial Crisis had taken its toll with the Index slipping 51% from its high and the Currency at 113 for a $ In the fight against LTTE, the tide was turning in favor of the Government. On 2nd Jan, the LTTE's de-facto capital Kilinochchi was captured by Government Troops.

What can I say 😎 Mount Godwin Austen

Investing like Entrepreneurship is hard. 8 out of 10 don't make it in the long run. The 2 who succeed write realms about their path providing fodder to the next 100 aspirants. This is not to discourage potential aspirants but to just say that both in Investing and when you are starting off as a Entrepreneur, have realistic expectations.

Its becoming fashionable to blame Santhosh Kamath for taking Credit Risks that bombed. The issue that Franklin has faced was not about Credit but Cash Flow. My thoughts, His strategy is excellent for some one wishing to have a High Yield Debt Portfolio. Unfortunately, his nemesis was that he executed the same in a Mutual Fund Sandbox.

When the dust finally settles and it always does, India will end up as a major gainer from the Crisis. #coronavirusus Of course, that doesn't mean that one needs to go out and Buy today or tomorrow unless one has a plan he is just executing. This is more on the longer term (5 years and above)

The consensus I am seeing in Analyst Reports and Views is that 2020 is the year for Mid and Small Cap. The reason for the unifying stand seems to be based on "Mean Reversion" Lets go back a bit in time. In 2011, markets went down - basically every Index went into negative territory. Nifty 50 was down 24%, Nifty Mid Cap 100 was down 30% and Nifty Small Cap by 33%.

The #FinTech Industry is fast becoming crowded with new players emerging all the time. Much of this maybe has to do with the fact that with other Asset Classes reeling, Retail is kind of getting pushed to financial assets for bulk of their savings. Once upon a time being a small stock broker was good enough to generate enough revenues to match the salary offered by most jobs in the Industry. That died when the Discount Brokers marched in.

Interesting to see how the Open Interest in Infosys 740 Puts was created. The position was build on 16th July 2019 in Options expiring in September. Position was held through August without diluting the same.

Himachal Futurustic started the year 1999 at 37. Ended at 675. In 2000, it peaked at 2578 before correcting nearly 75% of the move. Since it was a relatively unknown stock (before the Richard Packer story broke), very few Investors were positioned in the stock.

As is the norm, the stock shot up 46% from that time in the following months. Those who continued to believe in Yes ridiculed those who missed out on such an opportunity. Today the stock is down 80% from when I wrote the post. The same guys have no opinion on Yes today. But Yes hasn't been the only stock to fall big time. From DHFL to Jet to India Bulls to Zee, groups and companies all around seem to be going through what can be said to be tough times.

In the days of the past, Investor Conferences were rare if any were held in the first place. These days, I hear about one or the other being organized every month. The charges for such events don't come cheap. Yet, most events seem to run to packed audiences who are happy to have spent good money to be there.

After a grinding year, markets bottomed out on 20th Dec 2011. On that day, just 11% of stocks were trading above their 200 day EMA. Today, we are at 15.70% Draw-down of Stocks from their All time Highs as on that day (n = 1467 for 2011 vs 1616 for 2019)

The serious low in recent times was set on 26th October 2018. Almost every index made a low which save for a few sector indices has yet to be tested. Nifty low on that day was 10,004 & closed at 10,030. Today, its at 11,691 - up 16.50% from that day's close

Like Taxes and Death, for Investors "Management Fees" is something that cannot be avoided. But Fees not only deters investors but actually destroys a large part of capital gains when investments are held for a very long period. Mutual Funds charge a % fee on assets they manage on your behalf - if you invested through a Distributor, this comes to around 2% per year. If you invested on your own, its still around 1% to 1.25% per year.

"Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth." - Mike Tyson | This is so much true in the context of Draw-down as well. We believe we can withstand a deep draw-down, but that draw-down becomes a reality, all hell breaks loose with most investors running for cover (read, Sell at whatever price markets are willing to buy)