Monkeys ahead of Sensex, Monkey 2 hits a purple patch

Our experiment to find out whether you can succeed in stock markets with just plain luck continues to throw up surprising results every week.

After the markets closed on Friday, we found that our two randomly-selected portfolios, Monkey 1 and Monkey 2 , continued to scamper ahead of the benchmark Sensex. Both portfolios were created on 19 August using 10 randomly selected stocks from the BSE 100 and the BSE 500 each. The notional initial investment in each portfolio was Rs 10 lakh.

[caption id=“attachment_80766” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Over the past week, however, Monkey 1 seemed to have been a bit distracted as it gave up 0.5 percent. Reuters”]  [/caption]

While the Sensex added 4.5 percent during the entire 3-week period - 19 August to 9 September - the Monkey 1 portfolio gained 4.9 percent ( see chart ) while the Monkey 2 portfolio - hold your breath - surged by an impressive 8.2 percent ( see chart ).

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The star performers in this portfolio were Aban Offshore, which gained 16 percent during the period under review to close at Rs 399.7 on Friday, andVIP Industries, which leapt 15 percent to close at Rs 968.9. Nine out of 10 stocks in this portfolio ended higher at the end of the three weeks.

The Monkey 1 portfolio also saw nine gainers and one loser - Siemens, down 1.5 percent - during the same period. Notable winners included foods company Nestle, which gained 4.4 percent, to close at Rs 4,381 on 9 September, and Grasim, which gained 3.5 percent to end at Rs 2,153.

Over the past week, however, Monkey 1 seemed to have been a bit distracted as it gave up 0.5 percent, although Monkey 2 seemed to be doing just fine, outperforming the benchmark’s marginal 0.3 percent gain with a superlative 3 percent jump.

Our experts’ portfolio - 10 stocks from 10 brokerages - which we introduced last week, also managed to beat the benchmark index with a 1.4 percent gain ( see chart ), although it was no match for Monkey 2’s weekly takings.

The Nifty closed the week 0.4 percent higher; it has gained 4.4 percent since 19 August.