Market sees sharp rises and few dips over the past week

Markets last week saw all kinds of movements First we had a small up day followed by a small down day Then we had a big fall followed by two days of sharp rise The BSESENSEX gained 41736 points or 126 per cent to close at 3325030 points NIFTY gained 14385 points or 140 per cent to close at 1026565 points The broader markets saw BSE100 BSE200 and BSE500 gain 142 per cent 143 per cent and 136 per cent respectively BSEMIDCAP gained 168 per cent while BSESMALLCAP gained 107 per centGold plated souvenir Bitcoin coins Bitcoin spiked to a dizzying record above USD 15000 on frenzied speculative buying PicsAFPThe top sectoral gainer was BSECONDUR up 264 per cent followed by BSEOILampGAS 261 per cent and BSETECH 255 per cent The top loser was BSEIT down 132 per cent There were no other losers but the sector to gain the least was BSEPOWER up 026 per cent In individual stocks the top gainer was Bharti Tele up 798 per cent followed by Hind Unilever 565 per cent and GAIL 545 per cent The top loser was Infratel down 292 per cent followed by Coal India 283 per cent and Hero Moto 268 per cent It is coincidence that both the top gainer and loser are group companies with Bharti being the telecom provider and Infratel being the tower companyThe sameDow Jones had yet another week of gains and was up 14654 points or 060 per cent to close at 2432916 points The Indian Rupee was steady and gained a paisa or 002 per cent to close at R 6445 RBI held interest rates unchanged on expected lines There was plenty of news flow with the government superseding the board of UnitechThe whistleblower has written to SEBI against the settlement plea of Infosys All is not well in the case of Infosys and somehow it seems to be battling on too many fronts at the same time This is affecting the image of the companyOn offerThere were two primary market offerings in the week gone by The first was from the super speciality hospital chain Shalby Ltd which raised R 480 crore from a fresh issue and an offer for sale of 10 lakh shares The price band was R 245 to 248 The issue was subscribed 282 times with QIB portion subscribed 434 times HNI portion undersubscribed at 042 times and retail oversubscribed at 298 times The HNI portion saw a muted response because the issue could not be subscribed 5060 times by this category and hence attract margin funding at 1 to 2 per cent margin This shows that the criteria for HNI funding is not the quality of issue but the rate of margin on borrowingPaper caperThe second issue was from Future Supply Chain Solutions Limited which was an offer for sale of 9784 lakh shares in a price band of R 660 to 664 The issue was subscribed 755 times with QIB potion subscribed 1236 times HNI portion subscribed 1115 times and retail portion subscribed 326 times A small IPO opens in the week ahead from Astron and Board Mill Limited The company is tapping the capital markets with its fresh issue of 14 cr shares in a price band of R 4550 to raise R 70 crore at the top end of the band The issue opens on Friday December 15 and closes on Wednesday December 20The shares are being offered at a PE multiple of 14711634 times its financial year ended March 2017 numbers The amount to be raised is small compared to the IPO size these days and paper as a sector is seeing traction The company makes Kraft paper from waste paper Bitcoin has suddenly become the talking point at almost all forums The kind of volatility witnessed where it rose to over 17154 dollars and then fell to below 14k on the same day before closing at just a shade over 15k shows the fervour with which this is being tradedThe important news is that Chicago futures exchange would permit futures in Bitcoin effective December 10 This effectively means that if you have a bearish view on this coin you could henceforth short the same This would make the kind of volatility witnessed a thing of the past hopefully RBI has warned people about Bitcoin The worst thing about it is there is no regulator for the same Trade at your own perilThe alltime high on the BSESENSEX was 33865 points and 10490 on NIFTY We are about 2 per cent away from these levels and it is quite likely that they would make a serious attempt to touch them if not cross them in the next six trading days beginning Monday The end The election results would decide the course the markets take One thing is quite certain though that if we are to end the current calendar year on a new high it has to happen on December 18 If markets do not do so it would happen at best only next year On the other hand if things go wrong with the results as far as the ruling party is concerned than the markets would begin a meaningful correction in the immediate short termRally rideWith so much at stake in the coming week building into the exit poll on Thursday evening there would be huge volatility without doubt Ride the rally and use that to book profits Even after a positive outcome markets would see sharp profit taking post the results or see a selloff if there are unpleasant surprises Arun Kejriwal is founder of the Mumbaibased advisory firm Kejriwal Research amp Investment Services Pvt LtdDisclaimer No financial information whatsoever published anywhere in this newspaper should be construed as an offer to buy or sell securities or as advice to do so in any way whatsoever All matter published here is for educational and information purposes onlyCatch up on all the latest Mumbai National and International news hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go