‘One of the most brutal phases…’: Finfluencer says many Indian investors have moved to gold, silver

Many Indian investors have quit equity investing – for a peaceful night’s sleep – but, of course, that does not bode well for Indian investing, said finfluencer and founder of Wisdom Hatch, Akshat Shrivastava. “The current phase in the Indian Equity market is turning out to be one of the most brutal phases,” he said.

These investors have moved on to gold, and their investments have outperformed those of equity investors, said Shrivastava. “Most importantly: they have done it while keeping their peace of mind in-tact. Like equity investors, they don't need to check everyday price movements. They work, make money, buy land/gold, sleep peacefully,” he said.

Shrivastava also offered a few points to help the ones who are sticking around:

• He said markets will eventually turn around, and the losses would be recovered
• Some may have sold slow growth firms at a loss. “This taught to book losses. Most people struggle to do this,” he said
• This gave an exposure to equity market downturn, without which one can’t really invest for decades. “You are on your journey to becoming a seasoned investor,” he added
• When things go right no one bothers about bad strategies, but when market goes slow, investors learn some hard lessons
• Investors end up realising that everyone’s here to sell stories

“In the end, you are responsible for managing your own money. Your only defence to protect your money is to learn about money management. You spend 10 hours/day earning money. Spend at least 1 hr/day managing it,” he said. 

MARKETS HIT BY MONDAY BLUES

Indian stock markets opened the week on a subdued note, with the Nifty 50 edging up 0.08% to 25,493.3 and the BSE Sensex rising 0.07% to 82,685.68 as of 10:00 am. It, however, rebounded following gains in banking and financial stocks, along with a recovery in IT, metal, consumer and pharma shares.

VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Investments, stated, "The IT sell-off will continue to weigh on markets in the near term. He also noted, "Institutionals are likely to continue selling IT stocks and switch to sectors with good earnings growth visibility."