HNIs can make money if Quess Corp lists around Rs 470

If shares of Quess Corporation list below 50 per cent premium, investors with leveraged bets may end up losing money. The portion reserved for high net worth individuals (HNIs) in the Quess Corporation's initial public offering (IPO) was subscribed over 390 times.

The break-even cost for these investors, as back of the envelope calculations show, works out to Rs 470 a share for those who have applied with borrowed money. That's over 47 per cent premium to the issue price of Rs 317 a share. However, Quess may rise 60 per cent on listing if grey market premiums are anything to go by.

RBS' call goes horribly wrong

On January 8, the advice of Andrew Roberts, head of European economics at RBS, stumped many brokerages and fund managers. The RBS team predicted that things looked similar to that of 2008, and advised investors to sell everything except high-quality bonds. Six months later, RBS' prediction seems to have gone terribly wrong.

Since January, Brent crude oil is up 39 per cent, the S&P 500 has gained 10 per cent and the MSCI Emerging Market Index has advanced 12 per cent. The joke doing the rounds is that the market has made RBS pay for this misadventure - its stock is down 46 per cent since the call, mainly due to the Brexit.

NSE listing: Unlocking value or losing potential gains?

Experts are divided over banks like State Bank of India, IDBI and IFCI selling their stake in the National Stock Exchange (NSE). While the latest deal - SBI's five per cent sale to Veracity Investment - values the exchange at Rs 18,220 crore, some experts believe banks may be losing an opportunity in NSE's future.

Helios Capital's fund manager Samir Arora seems to be part of this view. Last week, he tweeted: "Many banks selling NSE shares view it as unlocking value. Can also be viewed as giving up lot of potential gains in the future as NSE lists."