Fastest-finger first for PFC tax-free bonds

The Rs 700-crore Power Finance Corporation (PFC) tax-free bond issue, which opens on Monday is expected to get fully subscribed within minutes. Last month, the NTPC tax-free bond issue was fully subscribed in less than 30 minutes. Experts said demand for PFC will be stronger as the yields have softened after the surprise 50 basis points (bps) rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India. Investors will enjoy higher yields on PFC, as it fixed its coupon rate before RBI's rate cut. Subsequent tax-free public sector units bond offerings will have at least 10-15 bps lower coupon rates, say experts.

Is Rakesh Jhunjhunwala still bullish on Tata Motors?

Despite shares of Tata Motors falling off by 50 per cent this year, it appears famed investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala is still attracted to these. At a recent event to launch domestic brokerage Geojit's new trading software, Jhunjhunwala was asked to place a token order and the Big Bull chose Tata Motors. Exactly a year ago, Jhunjhunwala had surprised many by attending Tata Motors' second-quarter conference call and asking some pertinent questions to the management.

Better safe than sorry, say fund managers

Just a year before, top fund managers were lapping up mid- and small-cap stocks. But things have changed dramatically now. The basket of expected-to-perform stocks has more than halved, say sectoral players. No wonder, fund managers have turned defensive. "Now most of us would rather be in an HDFC Bank, even though we know that the returns won't be great, rather than taking a bet which would lose us serious money," says a fund manager.