What is a equity - sector fund and its types

A sector or an equity fund can be commonly defined as a fund that invests in equities more commonly known as stocks. They are in contrast with bond funds and monetary funds. They are mainly in the form of shares with some amount of cash existing with them. The cash amount is generally small. In contrast to bonds, notes or other securities, they maybe also classified as a mutual fund or an exchange-traded fund.

The objective of an equity fund is long-term growth through various capital gains, though previously dividends were also viewed as an all important source of total return. Some specific equity funds focus on a certain sector in the market and mark it towards a certain level of risk.

A sector fund is identified by several properties. Sector funds have a specific style, for e.g., value or growth. Funds are invested solely by the securities from one country or from various countries. Funds may or may not focus on some size of a company that might be small-cap, large-cap or mid-cap. Funds which allow involvement of some components of share picking are said to be managed actively. While index funds try as much as possible to be mirror specific stock market indices.

There are different types of Sector funds.

1)            Index Fund: Index funds allow investment in securities to mirror a market index. An index fund purchases and sell securities in a manner that reflects the composition of the selected index.

2)            Growth Fund: A growth fund invests in the stock of companies that are growing at a furious pace. These growing companies tend to re-invest most of their profits for research and development rather than paying dividends to its investors.

3)            Value Fund: A fund that allows investments of “value” in stocks. Companies that are rated as value stocks usually are old and established business setups that pay dividends.

4)            Sector Fund: A fund that invests only in a particular area of industry is known as sector fund. Most sector funds have a minimum leverage of 25% of their assets invested in this specialty.

5)            Income Fund: An equity income fund lays more emphasis on the current income over growth. The objective of the funds might be accomplished when investment of stock companies with long records of dividend payments such as utility stocks, blue chip stocks and preferred stocks are given more importance.

The other various types of funds are:

1)            Option income Funds

2)            Balance Funds

3)            Asset allocation Fund

4)            Fund of Funds

5)            Hedge Funds

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The Importance of Equity

When an investor’s fund represents the leftover interest in assets of an organization, which has been spread amongst individual shareholders of common or preferred stock, is known as equity. Whenever a business is setup, its owners invest some funds in the business to finance its day-to-day operations. This creates a liability on the business in the form of capital because the business has a separate identity from its owner’s altogether. 

Business, for the purpose of accounting, is considered as a sum of liability and asset. This is also known as the accounting equation. After all the liabilities have been accounted for, the positive remainder is used by the owner’s interest in the business.

This definition is useful in the understanding of the liquidation process in case of bankruptcy. Initially, all the secured creditors are paid against the proceeds from the assets. Thereafter a series of creditors who are ranked in the sequence of their priority have the next claim or rights on the residual proceeds.

The ownership equity is the last or residual claim against these assets which are paid only after all other creditors are paid to. Normally in such cases where creditors even cannot hold enough money to pay their bills, not even to reimumbrse the owner’s equity.

Therefore the owner’s equity is reduced to zero or negligible. The ownership equity is also popularly known as a risk capital or liable capital.

When an individual or a firm buy and hold shares of a particular stock in a stock market, it is known as equity investment. They do so in anticipation of income from various dividends and capital gains as the value of the share increases. Equity holders receive voting rights, to exercise their vote on candidates for board of directors in the company they have a stake in. They can also allow certain major transactions and residual rights that they share in the company’s profits as well as in recovering some part of the company’s assets in the event that it folds, though they generally have the lowest and backward priority while recovering their investment.  This also means that the acquisition of equity participation in a private limited company or a startup company.

When investment is made in an infant company, it is known as a venture capital investment and is generally regarded as a high risk than investing in listed concerned situations. These equities which are held by private individuals are often known as mutual funds or other forms of collective investment schemes, many of which have its prices quoted and listed in financial newspapers or magazines.

These mutual funds are managed typically by prominent fund management firms. Such holdings allow various individual investors to get a variety of funds and get the skill of the professional fund managers in charge of the funds. As an alternative, which is generally followed by large investors and pension funds, they hold shares directly in an institutional environment.

Many clients who hold their own portfolios are known as segregated funds which in contrary are the pooled mutual fund alternatives.

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The advantages of commodity trading

Commodity trading is yet another form of trading online. With a plethora of varieties to choose from, the investor is offered a bouquet of various commodities to choose from and invest in what he thinks might bring him the best results and desirable profit.

Learning about commodity trading is quite a difficult task because it involves in learning of numerous concepts that are often involved by complicated financial transactions and regulations. As long as one has learnt about history, the ever continuous development about the commodity markets, he will have a better chance of making a good profit in the commodity markets. One must avoid venturing in the market without any prior knowledge. It can often lead to disastrous results.

First and foremost, the investor must choose a specialty in the trade.  The investor must avoid doing it himself and the most effective way to learn on how to be an effective trader in the commodity market is to learn through experience and some unique styles and techniques that come along with these experiences. Though most people chose to take references from various book, magazines and online articles for knowing other’s perspective on trading, it is always better to gain firsthand information via a direct guidance and training programmes. If anyone knows any people in the  market or have friends who have had experience in the commodity market, they should not hesitate from asking them for their inputs or their ways of trading and regarding their techniques  and strategies.

Various online brokers will also provide their traders with real time information, quotes, prices and access to charts with various indicators.  This is of a great help to them which aids them in analyzing the market that affect the traded commodities. Traders often have an advantage of being provided with a lot of necessary information that they need in order to make their trading a successful one. The ones that manage their trading accounts and activities might be attainable to profits that they might have aimed for.

Though the online commodity trading also comes with risks just like other forms of trading, people are actually able to decrease the risks especially if they keep themselves well-informed and are able to analyze the market accurately. Traders should be aware of their trading activities so that they do not make the mistake of over-trading because of a possible loss that may occur.

Traders are accepted to discipline themselves especially not to over-trade and indulge in heavy losses and engage themselves in over-trading.

They are also well-informed about impulsive trading and its consequences which lead to financial problems in the future.  In order to overcome these hurdles, they may achieve their financial goals through online commodities trading.

Mobile Trading: Has it made our lives simpler & easier?

Gone are the days when traders and investors used to stand in a closed hall and shout on the top of their voices to trade. With Technology making its mark on our lives for good, the halls have been replaced by computer systems and mobile devices. Today share trading has become as easy as a click of a button of the mouse! It has actually become that simple.

Most of the Share Brokers, have been constantly working overtime to make online share trading easier for its investor customers. They have been creating user-friendly platforms and terminals along with intensive training workshops for its customers, so that they get the maximum by investing in share markets.  These terminals also quote live quotes and share prices for the benefit of investors, so that they can make the decision of buying/purchasing stocks.

Off late, trading on mobile phones has become the new trend. With people constantly on the move, trading on computer systems has made way for trading on PDA’s, mobile phones, etc. With the advent of these devices and their ever increasing use, many share brokers have developed terminals with the assistance of their software development teams, platforms that are compatible and can be used for share trading online on these devices itself.

The utmost benefit of mobile trading is that it allows users, priority to traders to gain a real time access to their individual trading platforms without actually having to be in front of their trading terminals.  A strong and stable platform for share trading on mobile phones come with various and added features which increase the experience of traders. It has many built-in features that update its users regarding any impactful circumstances in the share market. Thus, the traders can make the most of any impactful incidents in their trades in a timely manner. This is now possible even if they are not in front of their trading terminals.

In mobile phones, most of the trading terminals work in ‘online mode’ and require constant internet connectivity. This can be a problem as not only the person may end up discharging all his battery but also use up his entire resources and internet connectivity for keeping the terminal active.

However, many share brokers and investors keep separate handsets for a direct and constant access to the terminal, so that they can take any important decision during any critical occurrences in the share market.

Mobile phones may have made life simpler and easier, but their invasion in the trading markets have certainly made things easier for people who prefer heavy investments and would like to be as close as possible to the markets.

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Indian stock market and companies daily report (June 29, 2012, Friday)

The Indian markets are expected to open in green tracking positive cues from SGX Nifty. Asian shares and the euro were under pressure as European leaders argued over how to ease borrowing strains in Italy and Spain and stop the euro zone debt crisis spreading, with investors fearful of US reaction to the deadlock.
US stocks saw significant weakness throughout much of the trading day on Thursday, the markets staged a significant recovery attempt in the final hour of trading. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day but still closed in negative territory. Lingering concerns about the financial situation in Europe contributed to the early weakness on Wall Street along with a negative reaction to the Supreme Court's decision to uphold President Obama's healthcare reform law, including the law's individual insurance mandate.
Continued expectations of government action to revive domestic growth helped Indian shares shrug off weak global cues on Thursday. The rupee also traded firm, bolstered by dollar selling by banks and exporters after PM sought to give a big push to the sagging economy.

Markets Today
The trend deciding level for the day is 16,981 / 5,145 levels. If NIFTY trades above this level during the first half-an-hour of trade then we may witness a further rally up to 17,043 – 17,096 / 5,164 – 5,178 levels. However, if NIFTY trades below 16,981 / 5,145 levels for the first half-an-hour of trade then it may correct up to 16,928 – 16,866 / 5,130 – 5,111 levels.

Coal India gets NTPC's de-allocated coal mines
Media reports suggest that Coal Ministry has given three de-allocated mines to Coal India (CIL) and has asked CIL to appoint mine developers to begin the production from these blocks at the earliest. The three allocated blocks include Brahmini, Chichro Patsimal and Damogoria blocks. We believe CIL will start developing these blocks, but it is unlikely to commence production from these blocks in the near term. Hence, we await further clarity on this matter. Thus, we maintain our estimates on CIL and recommend a Neutral rating on the stock.

SBI cuts its lending rates for exporters by 50bp
State Bank of India (SBI) has reduced its lending rates for export credit by 50bp w.e.f. June 23, 2012, responding to recent RBI action of enhancing the limit for export credit refinance (ECR) from 15% to 50%. We expect the bank to report NIM of 3.7% and 3.4% for FY2013 and FY2014, respectively. At the CMP, the stock is trading at 1.2x FY2014E ABV (after adjusting for value of subsidiaries). We recommend a Buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs.2,469.

CG inaugurates new EHV switchgear manufacturing facility in Brazil
CG (Crompton Greaves Ltd) commenced operations of its new Extra High Voltage (EHV) Switchgear manufacturing facility in Brazil. It will manufacture a full range of EHV switchgear targeted at the Brazilian Utility market segment. It intends to differentiate by introducing its latest models and provide Brazilian customers with a 30 per cent reduced lead time. CG expects to reach $50mn during the first year of operations. CG has already received more than USD 6 million worth of orders from Utilities such as CEMIG, CPFL, CEEE, RGE and Toshiba. We maintain our Buy on the stock with a target of Rs.142.

Petrol price cut by Rs.2.46/litre
Oil marketing companies (OMCs) have reduced petrol prices by Rs.2.46/liter. OMCs had already cut petrol prices by Rs.2.02/liter on June 3, 2012. Petrol prices have been lowered due to declining global crude oil prices over the past one month. Brent crude oil price has declined from US$103/bbl on May 31, 2012, to US$93/bbl as on June 28, 2012. Since petrol prices are not included in the calculation of under-recoveries, we do not change our estimates for underrecoveries for FY2013. We maintain our Buy rating on ONGC with a target price of Rs.321 and maintain our Accumulate rating on GAIL with a target price of Rs.389.

DoT to slap penalties Rs.1,594cr on five mobile phone firms this week
The telecoms department (DoT) will this week formally slap penalties totaling Rs.1,594crore on five mobile phone firms, after it rejected their defence against charges that accused them of understating revenues and paying less levies. The DoT plans to send demand notices to Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Vodafone, Tata Teleservices, Tata Communications and RCom by the month-end. Earlier this year, these companies were slapped with showcause notices after a DoT appointed panel endorsed the findings of external auditors, which said these operators had understated revenues by Rs.10,268cr during 2006-07 and 2007-08. Since telcos pay 6-10% of their annual revenue as license fee and 2-6% as spectrum usage charges, reporting lower revenue brings down the component they have to share with the government. The DoT had also obtained the law ministry's approval prior to sending out showcause notices. But all telcos had denied any wrongdoing and slammed the DoT panel's findings.
The department has estimated that Bharti Airtel will have to pay penalties to the tune of Rs.292cr while for Vodafone it will be Rs.254cr. The penalty for Idea works to Rs.113cr, Tata Teleservices at Rs.273cr and Tata Communications at about Rs.120cr while RCom will have to pay about Rs.551crore. This includes interest and other related fines for the alleged violations. We continue to maintain our Neutral view on the overall telecom sector owing to regularity uncertainties as well as increase in interest payments of various companies (Bharti Airtel, RCom) which has got forex debt in their books due to sharp INR depreciation.

PM moves to soften GAAR
As per media reports, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has kicked off a review of the controversial changes that scared away foreign investors. PM has asked finance ministry officials to examine the whole gamut of tax issues concerning portfolio investors which include the General Anti-avoidance Rules (GAAR) intended to check tax evasion by creating structures sans commercial substance. With regard to the new provision to tax overseas transactions involving Indian assets for capital gains, the sources did not even rule out a clarification that no past deals would be taken up in such cases even if the assessment process was not complete. The PMO has sought clarifications on all tax issues (pertaining to investors) and expects clarifications on indirect transfers pertaining to FIIs will be issued in a few weeks.

EU summit works on short-term support for Spain, Italy
Italy and Spain, battling searing market pressure in the euro zone's widening debt crisis, blocked agreement on measures to promote growth at a European Union summit on Thursday to demand urgent action to bring down their borrowing costs. As per three EU sources, work was focused on using the euro zone's temporary EFSF rescue fund and a future permanent ESM bailout fund to buy new Spanish and Italian bonds as they were issued to underpin their bond auctions. The funds will have a maximum firepower of €500bn once the ESM is fully stocked in 2013, minus €100bn already earmarked to aid Spanish banks. It is expected that an agreement could be clinched at a meeting of the 17 euro zone leaders today after the regular 27-nation EU summit ends.
In draft summit conclusions, subject to amendment today, the leaders were set to ask the EU's top four officials to produce a detailed, time-bound roadmap in December leading to a genuine economic and monetary union. European Council President and European Commission President have set long-term goals of creating a euro zone treasury to issue joint bonds in the medium-term, and establishing a banking union with central supervision, a joint deposit guarantee and a resolution fund.

Economic and Political News
- Private airlines may get subsidy for flying to northeast
- Petrol price cut by Rs 2.46/litre, scope for more reduction
- Indian economic confidence slips in May on weak rupee, inflation
- Land deals in India to drop by 20% this yr to Rs 15k cr: C&W

Corporate News
- SAIL consortium may sigh pact with Afghanistan next month
- Bajaj Auto may hike prices as rupee fall raises input costs
- Gati forms JV with Japanese firm to reduce debt, interest cost
- Lanco commissions Bangalore-Mangalore toll road

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