About

Ahead of the Curve provides analysis and insight into today's global financial markets. The latest news and views from global stock, bond, commodity, and FOREX markets are discussed. Rajveer Rawlin is a PhD and received his MBA in finance from the Cardiff Metropolitan University, Wales, UK. He is an avid market watcher, having followed capital markets in the US and India since 1993. His research interests include capital markets, banking, investment analysis, and portfolio management, and he has over 20 years of experience in the above areas, covering the US and Indian markets. He has several publications in the above areas. He currently teaches business and management students at CHRIST University. The views expressed here are his own and should not be construed as advice to buy or sell securities.

Showing posts with label banking stocks. Show all posts

Tuesday, 23 December 2014

BRIC Currency Crisis Bad for Indian Banking Stocks?

Weakness in the Indian #Rupee will most often translate into weakness for the Indian banking space as potential hawkishness forced on the #RBI in defense of the Rupee could hurt bank margins. The Rupee has weakened considerably since Russia raised interest rates to defend the slumping Ruble and more recently with China devaluing the Yuan.

Recent topping action in the bank index could suggest a possible sell off in this space in anticipation of further Rupee weakness and potential hawkishness from the RBI. Just going back to August 2013 banks corrected over 30% when the Rupee fell to over 68 Rupees to the dollar and the RBI embarked on some serious tightening raising the overnight lending rate from 7% to 9%.

BANK NIFTY (^NSEBANK)

BRIC currency crisis bad for Indian banking stocks? http://t.co/SFzBN5BwiL pic.twitter.com/GvUnswEwGO
— samuelR (@RajveerRawlin) September 7, 2015

My Asset Allocation Strategy (Indian Market)

Cash - 40%
Bonds - 20%
Fixed deposit - 20%
Gold - 5%
Stocks - 10% ( Majority of this in dividend funds)
Other Asset Classes - 5%

My belief is that stocks are relatively overvalued compared to bonds and attractive buying opportunities can come along after 1-2 years. In a deflationary scenario no asset class does well other than U.S bonds, the U.S dollar and the Japanese yen, so better to be safe than sorry with high quality government bonds and fixed deposits. Cash is the king always. Of course this varies with the person's age.