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 Power grid Corporation (PGCIL) FPO shares got listed today.I had applied for this issue with a goal of cornering the listing gains and the same was decided while reviewing the PGCIL FPO.
For an application of 2100 shares, 966 shares were allotted @ Rs. 85.5.
Sold the shares @ Rs. 96.77 (after B&T) securing an STCG of Rs. 10,891.Such trading gain adds to my seed capital for future investments.

200 DMA or the 200 Day (Simple) Moving Average, is an important indicator in technical analysis. The 200 DMA is a long term moving average that helps determine overall strength of an index or a stock. The 200 DMA is generally used as a trend following indicator, which do not predicts market direction, but rather gives an idea about the current direction. Moving average is a lagging indicator, since it is based on past prices of an index or a particular stock.

An index that is trading below its 200 DMA is considered to be in a long term downtrend and when it is above, it is in an uptrend. Whenever the index or a stock trades near these averages, they attract support in a bull market and finds resistance in a bear market. Currently, the 200 DMA of Nifty is around 5200 and the index has closed around this level of 5200.

What does this indicate ? Is the market heading higher or is it going to correct after good run in the past few weeks? As said earlier during bearish phases, the 200 DMA find some resistance and attracts selling.We have seen many times in the past, nifty reacting down from the 200 DMA. But any strong close above this level would attract fresh buying and the prices may move higher. Hence, watch out these levels and follow-up action closely, to make your trading decisions better. The following chart may be of helpful, which shows the 200 DMA and the current market prices of the Nifty and Nifty-50 stocks. Also you would find the data for leading indices like Bank Nifty , CNX IT and CNX Midcap as well.


If fact, the 200-day moving average may act as support or resistance simply because it is so widely used. It is almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy. The advantage of using moving averages is they are trend following and these indicators are always lagging, This lag factor not necessarily be construed as a disadvantage, but can be used viewed as a supportive factor to identify that whether a trader is line with the current trend or not.

For a trader, trend is your friend, isn't it?

With the emergence of smart phones, mobile applications have completely transformed how we live our lives. Applications make activities that we were once only able to perform in a stationary environment into something that we can do anywhere, anytime. Of the millions of activities, like banking, shopping, and more, that have now been made mobile, even stock trading is now made that much easier thanks to mobile apps. Here are some of the best ones out there:

1.Bloomberg
Bloomberg, the media and financial services behemoth, has always been a one-stop shop for information about the markets. Now, Bloomberg is available on a nifty app, so that you can have real-time stock information, market news, and more right in the palm of your hand.

2.E*Trade Mobile Pro
If you use E*Trade to buy stocks, then its mobile app is especially helpful, since you can use it to buy and sell stocks, transfer money from any financial institution, and monitor the markets with comprehensive charts and live stock quotes.

3.Virtual Stock Market Lite
Virtual Stock Market Lite is a great app especially if you are relatively new to the markets. When you download and begin using this particular app, you are given $100,000 in virtual cash to invest as you please. The app uses real stock prices and real markets, so using this app is wonderfully accurate, not to mention, fun, way to practice trading!

4.Stock Twits
Stock Twits has all the benefits of apps like Bloomberg in terms of information and news about markets. The one aspect of Stock Twits that makes it unique, however, is that it serves also as a social network for traders. You can follow traders who invest the same way you do, discuss different strategies, and generally become part of an entire community of like-minded investors.

Trading and investing has never been a walk in the park. It takes time and energy, business savvy, and of course, a little bit of luck. Using some of these apps, however, will enable you to access an enormous amount of data and expertise so that you can make the best investment decisions, any time and any place.

Author Bio:
This is a guest post by Nadia Jones who blogs at accredited online colleges about education, college, student, teacher, money saving, movie related topics. You can reach her at nadia.jones5 at gmail.com.

S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average(DJIA ) indices are two of the world's most followed indices and are considered as the barometers of us markets. These indices have displayed historic resilience in holistically capturing the movements of the US markets. NSE is introducing rupee denominated future contracts on S&P 500 and DJIA indices. This is the first time in the world that futures contracts on S&P 500 index are being introduced and listed on an exchange outside USA.


S&P 500 is a free-float capitalization-weighted index 500 leading companies of the us economy and widely regarded as the best single gauge of the us equities market. Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is a price weighted index having 30 large and liquid blue chip stocks traded on U.S. exchanges.

Contract Details:

The contract size for the S&P 500 is 250 units and DJIA is 25 units, which approximately works out to 2.5 lakhs per contract. There are four quarterly expiry contracts in the mar-jun-sep-dec cycle and will be traded during Indian market time.

For whom?

Indian investors are currently permitted to invest in foreign assets subject to the limits stipulated by the Reserve Bank of India. Futures on S&P 500 and DJIA, currently being introduced by NSE shall enable traders desirous of taking exposures to us market to do so, without taking any foreign currency risk as they are rupee denominated contracts.

These contracts enable those invested in the us markets to hedge their equity exposure. Also, they can also be used as hedging tool by investors having a high exposure to stocks in sectors whose financial performance depends significantly on the prospect of the U.S. economy.

Other than the above mentioned investors/traders, market participants who can understand the dynamics of the U.S. markets can have directional views on the movement of the indices. As far as small investors  are concerned, this would be a avoid in the better interest of them.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) will launch interest rate futures on the 91-day treasury bills from July 4. So, what is this interest rate futures is all about? Interest rate futures (IRF) is a standardised interest rate derivative contract traded on a stock exchange to buy or sell an interest bearing instrument at a specified future date, at a price determined at the time of the contract.

Why are they issued?

These Money market instruments are issued to finance the short term requirements of the Government of India and they are issued at a discount to face value (Rs 100). The return is the difference between the par value and issue price There are different types of T-bills based on the maturity period like 91 days, 182 days and 364 days. Such instruments are very helpful for banks and mutual funds to hedge their exposure.

How are they quoted?

Quote Price = 100 minus futures discount yield.
E.g. For a futures discount yield of 7% p.a, the quote price would be 100 – 7 = Rs 93.00.

How are they settled?

The interest rate futures would be cash settled. In case of the 91-day treasury bill, the final settlement price of the futures contract is based on the weighted average price/ yield obtained in the weekly auction of the 91-day treasury bills on the date of expiry of the contract.

Advantages?

There is no Securities Transaction Tax (STT) and lower margins as compared to other forms of trading. This gives an easier and cheaper access to interest rates trading.

To put it in a nutshell, the interest rate futures can be used to take a directional call on the interest rates or for hedging their existing position. One can enter into an 91 DTB futures contract based on your interest rates view. If your anticipation is rise in interest rates you can create a short position in interest rates futures and vice-versa.

The country's premier commodity exchange Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX) has launched 1 gram gold contract namely Gold Petal futures contract, which is primarily launched targeting small traders. Already there are many such contracts developed by MCX like Gold (1 Kg), Gold Mini (100 grams) and Gold Guinea (8 grams).

The trading unit of the gold contract is 1 gram and the initial margin required to trade will be 4%, which would be around Rs.100, based on current market price of Rs.2100. The delivery of contract is possible in dematerialised or physical form, but the minimum quantity has to 8 gm.The physical delivery is available in multiples of eight gram coins with London Bullion Manufacturers Association (LBMA) certified 999 purity. The delivery centers are G4 Securitas at Mumbai, and other major cities.

There are many Gold ETFs like Gold Bees by Benchmark funds and many other ETFs by various fund houses like Reliance, HDFC available. Small investors can take the route of ETFs rather than the current product by MCX, since this would lead them to margin trading. This is because many are unaware of the risks involved in margin trading and their consequences of it.

Hence it is better to buy gold only through ETFs. Be a wise investor !

Crude Oil has shot past 100$ barrel mark and currently trading above that for quite sometime now. So where is crude oil heading towards? Crude oil prices are influenced by various factors but demand and supply remain the most crucial among them. Inventory data provides a useful snapshot of supply and demand balance.

Globally, crude oil traders take cue from the U.S. weekly surveys hence monitoring this data is of significant prominence. Also, crude oil is an international commodity so international crude data is important to follow. With US being the biggest consumer of crude oil in the world, one can draw some conclusions from its inventory levels, which impact the crude oil price movement.

For the week ended 18 March 2011. U.S. crude inventories rose 2.13 Mn bbls (W-o-W, as against market expectations 1.6 Mn bbls) and 1.5 mn bbls (Y-o-Y) to 352.8 Mn bbls, as imports rose. As we can see Crude oil inventories are at historically high levels.

Despite high inventories in US, crude oil price is trading at substantially high levels mainly due to geo-political issues like Libya etc. Hence over medium to long term,  there is enough data to believe that the crude will come down substantially, once the geopolitical issues get settled.

Despite falling last week on the heels of a poor jobs report—United States unemployment rose to 9.6% and nonfarm payrolls did not rise as highly as forecasted—the U.S. dollar began to firm up against both the euro and the yen. Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke announced in an interview on 60 Minutes that the latest quantitative easing project might go beyond the original $600 billion projection. These factors suggest, then, that even with this short-term gain, the U.S. dollar will continue to weaken, thus creating uncertainty and skittishness on the part of traders as the market finds its way. Long-term positions, then, could be favorable for those trading against the dollar, though this will be a tough bet.

As euro zone finance ministers struggled to protect the euro from the U.S. dollar, Japanese exporters had begun to sell the euro so that they could buy the yen while it remained above 111.000. This happened after the U.S. dollar gained on the yen to reach 82.85 yen over 82.58 yen last week. Likewise, the euro fell on the morning of the 6th of December to 1.3363 U.S. dollars, a slight drop from 1.341 of last week. Only time will tell how these pairs will shift throughout the week, given the upcoming talks regarding Ireland's aid package woes, as well as whether or not the European Union will revamp its budget rules.

So what is the sensible move for early December? Although it's a bit stingy right now, the market could favor the euro after the Irish budget passes and the European Union's aid package goes through for Ireland, though euro investor confidence will slow after that, based on the recent Sentix report that dropped noticeably after a nice rise in November.

This drop in the confidence index could push EUR/USD to a short-term resistance around last Friday's high of 1.3438 or thereabouts, in which case traders might consider selling for a tidy turn around if they can afford it. The recent sharp downturn happened quickly, however, so there's the possibility that corrections might occur in the next few days, so adjust your stop-loss accordingly so you don't get caught out in the open and unprepared.

Those of you following the EUR/USD trends, the job situation in the United States, and Bernanke's quantitative easement plan might consider going on to further do some in-depth research on this matter. Either way, it's definitely an interesting time for the U.S. dollar, the euro, and the yen, which will make for some exciting trading these next few months.