Street signs: HDFC scores a hattrick, use corrections to go long, and more

HDFC group scores a hattrick

The HDFC group has scored a hattrick with HDFC Life Insurance Company entering the benchmark Nifty index on July 31. The country’s leading private sector life insurer joins parent HDFC and HDFC Bank in the 50-share index of bluechip companies. It also joins the Bajaj group in having three stocks on the Nifty index. Bajaj Auto, Bajaj Finserv, and Bajaj Finance currently are part of the Nifty. HDFC Life’s inclusion was on an out-of-turn basis, as it replaced Vedanta, which has proposed to delist or go private. During the rebalancing later this month, brokerages are expecting three more changes to the index.

Samie Modak

Use corrections to go long

The benchmark Nifty has rallied 16 per cent in the past two months. The sharp rally could cap significant gains in the short term, believe experts. As a result, they are advising using intermittent corrections to build long positions on the Nifty. “For traders, our advice would be to use any correction towards 10,700-10,900 levels to accumulate long positions with a stop loss of 10,500. On the higher side, any sharp rally towards 11,500-117,00 levels should be utilised to book profit to buy back at lower levels,” said Nandish Shah, technical research analyst, HDFC Securities. The Nifty50 index closed at 11,073 on Friday.

Sundar Sethuraman

MFs look to widen debt basket

MFs with limited debt offerings are looking to expand their product basket, as investors' appetite has shifted towards low-risk debt products. "Credit-risk funds have seen a steep fall down the pecking order. Mid-sized fund houses are filing for corporate bond funds and banking & PSU funds, where the portfolio is largely deployed in higher-graded debt papers," said a senior executive of a fund house. Some fund houses are considering launching debt products linked to government securities.

Jash Kriplani