Monday, June 9, 2008

Why you should worry about the latest market crash

At a point when the Sensex has fallen by 5,000 points — that’s by 25 per cent — from over 20,000 in early January to 15,000 today, why should a 500 point fall make news? Because these 500 points bring out the first sentiments of investors: fear and greed.
History tells us that we’ve lost money in earlier falls, the greed years of the dot-com boom, for instance. Then, some of the tech shares that quoted at over Rs 1,000 could be picked up for a few paise. Many investors are still holding on to them, in physical form, waiting for them to rise to their previous levels — or at least to Rs 500 or thereabouts so that the investment can be salvaged.
The bad news is that that’s not going to happen in their lifetimes.

Opinion in Hindustan Times, June 09, 2008

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