Sensex, Nifty lead gains, Monkey 2 seeks spiritual advice

For the second week running, the Monkeys and brokers were edged out by the benchmark indices as the Nifty and Sensex advanced by 1.4 percent each.

To be fair, the Monkeys and brokers didn’t do too badly for the week ending 15 June either. Monkey portfolio 1, consisting of 10 randomly-picked stocks from the BSE 100 , advanced 1 percent, while Monkey portfolio 2, comprising 10 randomly-selected stocks from the BSE 500, added on 0.2 percent. The experts’ portfolio, a collection of 10 stocks hand-picked by 10 market whizkids , closed the week 0.11 percent higher.

For the period since inception of the three portfolios (19 August, 2011), the benchmark indices outdid the competition even more convincingly. The Nifty climbed 6.1 percent, while the Sensex put on 5 percent.

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The brokers’ portfolio came third ( see table ), pocketing a 3.3 percent gain, helped by MRF (up 64 percent) and Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 34 percent). Monkey portfolio 1, in comparison, just managed to cling on to positive territory, rising a piddly 0.6 percent. Its biggest drag remains Adani Enterprises, which has lost a whopping 58 percent since the portfolio’s inception.

Monkey portfolio 2 ( see table ) continues to stumble its way through: it has fallen off a steep 15 percent, dragged down mainly by VIP Industries and Manappuram Finance, which lost more than 50 percent each.

And the bumpy ride’s not over. The week ahead will be incredibly nerve-wracking for human (and Monkey) investors. Greek general elections on Sunday, which could decide whether the indebted nation stays or leaves the eurozone, and a US Federal Reserve meeting later in the week, will keep global financial markets on high alert. Media reports say global central banks are prepping for any fallout from the Greek vote results in particular. A word of advice to investors: keep your aspirin strips nearby. You might need to gulp down quite a bit of those tablets to ease some of that insistent head throbbing.

How are our Monkeys coping? Well, Monkey 1 ( see table ) has decided to spend the day speed-reading economics Nobel prize-winner Paul Krugman’s book, “Crisis Economics” to prep himself for what could be in store ahead (history does repeat itself, you know!).

Monkey 2, meanwhile, has decided to visit a renowned astrologer to find out what the stars have planned for his portfolio next week. Ever since he visited a tarot reader recently, he’s become a big fan of astrology, numerology, crystals, you name it. We can’t complain, because hey, there are always more ways than one to achieve success. (Some of them are also illegal, but that’s another story.)

The astrologer recommended that Monkey 2 wear a green stone to ride out any possible financial turbulence this week. Last seen, our simian was out shopping for a really expensive emerald ring. Good for him. If his portfolio tanks, at least he can sell his sparkly emerald later.

Come back next week to find out more!