Home Blogs Markets zoom as India begins vaccinations soon

Markets zoom as India begins vaccinations soon

Reading Time: 3 minutes

The stock markets ended yet another week with modest gains as benchmark indices ended the week in green. A few positive developments led to this, the most important of which was that the Govt. of India gave emergency vaccine approvals to vaccine maker Bharat Biotech and AstraZeneca. This marks the official beginning of the end of the pandemic as the govt. intends to start vaccinating frontline healthcare workers as soon as January 16. Added to this, positive GST data collection, improving automobile sales, Trump officially conceding to Biden and positive GDP forecasts for next year made investors hopeful.

Anyway, before going further into market updates, let’s take a look at a recent stock market anomaly.

Matter of Fact

A sect of economists believe that stock markets are efficient… this means that taking into account all available information about the company, the stock price of that company at any point of time is believed to be fair. Basically, stock prices are always correct. This mind sound crazy, but again, it’s just a theory and no theory is always entirely true.

But the opponents of the efficient market frequently bring up examples to show how and why the stock markets might not be completely efficient. Let’s look at one such example that happened recently.

Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, recently tweeted that he recommends using Signal as an instant messaging app – instead of the incumbent WhatsApp. This was on account of WhatsApp updating its Privacy Policy. Now look, Elon has about 40 million followers on Twitter. When he says something, people listen. So yeah, Signal – the messaging app – saw a rise in downloads with over 1 lakh downloads in just 2 days. But something else happened too… and that was weird.

So the stock price of Signal Advance – an entirely unrelated Texas-based technology company which works on healthcare and industrial applications – surged. The shares surged from 60 cents, before Musk’s tweet on January 7, to $8.30 on Friday – a surge of more than 1100%! Such is the weirdness of the stock market! :p

@elonmusk recommended using @signalapp as an instant messaging platform – after WhatsApp updated its privacy policy. However, weirdly enough, the stock of Signal Advance – a completely different company, surged over 1100%! Click To Tweet

Markets Update

Nifty 50

14,347.25

2.35% ▲

Sensex

48,782.51

1.91% ▲

Nifty 500

11,925.60

3.03% ▲

Bank Nifty

32,084.20

2.75% ▲

The Big Picture

The India Manufacturing PMI measures the performance of the manufacturing sector. In December, the Manufacturing PMI stood at 56.4, slightly below the market consensus of 56.6.
The India Services PMI measures the performance of the services sector. In December, the Services PMI declined to 52.3 from 53.7 in the previous month, and below market expectations of 54.
The trade deficit (exports – imports) in India widened to $15.71 billion in December from $12.48 billion a year earlier. It is the biggest trade deficit since November 2018 as exports fell whereas imports saw a jump.
Foreign Exchange Reserves in India increased to $585.3 billion on January 1 from $580.84 billion in the previous week.

Investing Insights

India’s energy sector – a powerhouse

A slew of positive developments has gotten India under the limelight of investors around the world. The world looks at India with hopeful eyes to become the global competitor to China. However, energy and power are central to India achieving its ambitious growth goals. Until now, the government has done a fairly commendable job in gradually improving the health of the energy sector. For example, over 700 million Indians gained access to electricity between 2000 and 2018!

However, for us to honour our growth goals and expectations, India needs to work towards attaining efficient, cheap and sustainable means to power. With climate change becoming a concern, renewables are going to be the next upcoming theme in India’s energy sector and its revolution. We dove deep into the nuances of this sector and the opportunities it could present to investors. Read more, here.

Ok, so?

WhatsApp: Last seen in Finance

India is WhatsApp’s largest market with over 400 million users. It has always intended to extend its services beyond instant messaging, and it is finally set to get this plan into action – WhatsApp is looking to provide insurance and pension products via its platforms. This could have multiple implications. Okay, so? Find out!

You could soon be able to buy an insurance policy on #WhatsApp!

To drive its financial inclusion push in #India, WhatsApp is set to roll out health #insurance and micro-pension products on its hugely popular messaging platform 📱💬

Okay, so? Find out 👇 pic.twitter.com/qx0zkF30FU
— smallcase (@smallcaseHQ) January 6, 2021

AMA with Alok Jain

We hosted an AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the poster boy of Momentum Investing – Alok Jain, last week. Below is the thread of all answers by him! 🙂

A thread of answers by Alok Jain @WeekendInvestng in today's AMA #AskAlok 👇
— smallcase (@smallcaseHQ) January 7, 2021

Abhishek Jadon

VP, Investment Products at Windmill Capital.

Cancel reply

Dislaimer: This platform is intended for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide investment advice. The stock prices displayed are delayed and may not reflect the most current market conditions. Investment in securities market are subject to market risks. Read all the related documents carefully before investing. You can also consider consulting a financial advisor before making any investment decisions. Smallcase Technologies Private Limited shall not be responsible for any losses that may occur as a result of using this platform.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Smallcase Technologies Private Limited (STPL) or any of its associates. The information provided in this article is for educational and informational purposes only. Investors are responsible for their investment decisions and are responsible to validate all the information used to make the investment decision. Investors should understand that his/her investment decision is based on personal investment needs and risk tolerance, and performance information available on here is one amongst many other things that should be considered while making an investment decision. Past performance does not guarantee future returns.

Investments in securities market are subject to market risks. Read all the related documents carefully before investing. Registration granted by SEBI, membership of BASL (in case of IAs) and certification from NISM in no way guarantee performance of the intermediary or provide any assurance of returns to investors. The examples and/or scurities quoted (if any) are for illustration only and are not recommendatory.

The content and data available on the website, including but not limited to index value, return numbers and rationale are for information and illustration purposes only. Charts and performance numbers do not include the impact of transaction fee and other related costs. Past performance does not guarantee future returns and performances of the portfolios are subject to market risk. Data used for calculation of live returns and other information is provided by exchange approved third party vendors and has neither been audited nor validated by the Company. Detailed return calculation methodology is available here. Detailed volatility calculation methodology is available here.

The user agrees to assume complete and full responsibility for the outcomes of all of his/her investment decisions that he/she makes, including any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special, punitive or any other losses/damages if any that may be incurred by him/her. Smallcase Technologies shall not be responsible or liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special, punitive or any other losses/damages arising out of the recipient's investments. For disclosures related to Smallcase Technologies Pvt Ltd, please visit this page .

All smallcases present in the articles are created by SEBI licensed entities. The disclosure of these entities can be found below: