MOODS & MARKETS - SWINGING UP AND DOWN

Look at this scenario.

The Reliance Industries Partly Paid (RILPP) shares get listed at a premium and it remains buoyant through the day. And that too in a market which at one point during the day, went down over 850 points. It ultimately ended the day 550 points down in the red.

What does this indicate? Investors are discerning and they are not selling lock, stock and barrel because fears have emerged over the virus and another lockdown. They are wary of the pandemic and well aware of the impact it is having on the economy but at the same time, do not want to miss out on an opportunity on the Street.

This is probably how even the FIIs are looking at Reliance Industries. In these Covid times, Jio has managed to garner $13.6 billion from nine marquee international investors - Facebook, Silver Lake, KKR, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, Mubadala, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, TPG, and L Catterton have invested in the past eight weeks, right at the peak of the pandemic and lockdown.

Apart from the fact that Jio is more than a telecom company run by the richest man in India, the ambition and potential it offers is what has got the FIIs looking at sinking their teeth into a slice of this juicy pie. The company is right on track to make itself debt free as promised and we are also looking at an IPO in next 12-24 months. People are talking about a valuation of around $100 billion for Jio. Thus despite the gloom and doom around, Jio shines bright.

And that is the story here. The market has tanked today because it is rankled by the rising Covid cases in the country plus the news of re-emergence of the virus in Beijing has really rattled the investors. There is fear also that this spike up might force many state Govts to once again reimpose lockdowns. Even when ‘unlocked’ the supply chains continue to hurt so another lockdown will really maim the economy.

But this is again how the market works – a few days up even when the virus was rising and now suddenly it takes note and the market tanks. Once again, it will rise from here – all that which goes up has to come down and every index which goes down, has only one way to go after that – up.

The listing of RILPP and the investments by FIIs in Jio shows that investors have the faith – in the market and in the country. If there is a good opportunity, a company posts good earnings, books orders, the market will react positively.

Agreed we are in for a long haul and the year 2020 simply does not seem to end with its unrelenting bad news. And we have 5.5 more months to go. We just need to take one day at a time as every new days seems to bring with only more bad news.

Just like our moods, one day up and the other day down, the markets reflect our fears and hopes. Right now, we are down and so are the markets. Let’s see how we uplift ourselves and the markets in the coming days, even as things get tougher.