Sensex likely to trade in 16,000-20,000 range in 2011

Mumbai, Feb 20 (PTI) The stock market is expected towitness a negative bias in the the first half of 2011 and pickup later with the Sensex likely to trade in a range of 16,000-20,000 points for the current year, broking firms have said.

"We expect the market to trade with a negative bias inthe first half and to move up towards the end of the year. Soexpect the markets to be in a range of 16,000-20,000 for thecurrent year," Rajen Shah, Chief Investment Officer, AngelBroking, said at a seminar on Investment Opportunities jointlyorganised by Angel Broking and Bombay Stock Exchange here.

The seminar was a part of Angel Broking and BSE''songoing countrywide initiative on investor education.

Retail investors need to be cautious and disciplinedin stock picking. Focus should be on value investing incompanies with good managements and businesses, Shah said.

Speaking on the occasion Dinesh Thakkar, Chairman andManaging Director, Angel, said, "given our retail-centricorientation, we are confident that through this alliance withBSE, Angel Broking can further leverage its strong researchstrength to reach out to a wide spectrum of Investors."

So far in 2011, the Indian markets have been on adownward trend, shaving off almost 10 per cent, on back ofpersistent inflationary pressures, which are expected toresult in slowdown in the economic growth.

However, a look at history suggests that Indianequity, as an asset class, has been the most rewarding. Buyingduring downtrend in the market has provided good returns,Thakkar said. .

On economic front, while the developed economies can grow at real 2 per cent GDP on back of innovation, emergingmarkets like India, which are behind in the innovation curve,can sustain a real GDP growth of 8 per cent, resulting incorporate profits growing by 15-16 per cent, Thakkar said.

Thus after the correction, the Indian markets aretrading close to earning yield of 7 per cent, promisinghandsome returns to investors, he said.

The concerns on the inflation front are also likely tosubside as the inflationary pressures are more driven by thesupply side issues on food front, Thakkar said.

Further, with valuation gap between the developed andemerging economies narrowing down, FII inflows towards Indiashould resume. Hence, at this juncture the Indian equities arewell poised for an uptrend, Thakkar said.

"As our markets evolve, a growing number of investorsare looking at adding options to their investment portfolios.

We believe that increasing awareness of the benefits ofinvestment opportunities through training and education is acritical responsibility in our efforts to grow our markets,"BSE Managing Director and CEO Madhu Kannan said.