We are in a bearish market. In a bull market, any positive news is a trigger for further climb. That news might not necessarily be news either. Just the rumour of a positive development will do. However, when we are in a bear market, real positive news also gets absorbed by the market without moving the needle even one bit.

In my opinion, during the past month there were three such triggers which would have moved markets positively if we were in a bull or neutral market. The first one was the budget. The new income tax code in itself was enough of a trigger for all the consumption stocks to make positive move. In fact, quite a few of them did, but then they whimpered and stalled. And now are on a downward trajectory.

The second one was the rate cut by RBI. Finally, some relief. The Nifty50 index closed down on the day of the announcement.

The third one was the election in the National Capital. BJP winning Delhi assembly election could have been a positive trigger on any other time. Not to be so, during this phase. The results were declared on 8^th Feb, Saturday. The Nifty50 index closed down on the next Monday.

We are in a bearish market!!!

When you are starting out on your wealth building journey, its okay for the market to be in a bearish mood. You are not investing for today and the longer the market stays down, the more units you will be able to accumulate. Last month we put the three strategies in play. This month the market has become cheaper.

The update –

Interestingly, after the first month itself we can see some divergence appearing in the outcomes of the three strategies. As planned, Indu, Muthu and Shekhar invested additional INR 20000 this month. The prices shown below are closing prices of 25^th February (26^th is a holiday for Mahashivratri).

Indu’s portfolio (The index fan) –

Mutual Fund Scheme	Existing Units	New Investment	NAV	New Units	Total Units	Value
ICICI Pru Nifty 100 ETF	3822.630	20000	25.44	786.164	4608.794	117247.71

Invested Amount	120000
Current Value	117247.7

Muthu’s portfolio (the mutual funds sahi hai guy) –

Sr No	Mutual Fund Scheme	Existing Units	New Investment	NAV	New Units	Total Units	Value
1	ICICI Large and Mid Cap fund	21.902	4000	891.79	4.485	26.387	23531.74
2	HDFC Mid-cap Opportunities fund	112.873	4000	166.67	24.000	136.873	22812.57
3	Parag Parikh Flexi Cap fund	252.270	4000	77.55	51.580	303.850	23563.57
4	Nippon India Multi Cap fund	74.708	4000	256.78	15.578	90.285	23183.44
5	HDFC Small Cap fund	156.226	4000	118.08	33.875	190.101	22447.12

Invested Amount	120000
Current Value	115538.4

Shekhar’s Portfolio (the stock picker) –

Sr No	Stock	Existing Shares	New Investment	Buy Price	New Shares	Total Shares	Value
1	Aarti Industries	4.56	400	402.2	0.99	5.55	2232.138
2	Aarti Pharma	3.22	400	777.35	0.51	3.73	2902.334
3	Asian Paints	0.88	400	2224.75	0.18	1.06	2366.717
4	Astral	1.36	400	1389.45	0.29	1.65	2292.532
5	Axis Bank	2.11	400	1009.1	0.40	2.50	2527.781
6	Bajaj Finance	0.27	400	8488.8	0.05	0.32	2682.365
7	Bajaj Finserv	1.16	400	1875.1	0.21	1.37	2569.376
8	Bajaj Housing Finance	18.33	400	113.91	3.51	21.84	2487.411
9	Britannia	0.39	400	4798.05	0.08	0.48	2281.017
10	Chola Investment	1.64	400	1367.8	0.29	1.93	2636.703
11	Dabur	3.83	400	510.95	0.78	4.62	2358.976
12	Deepak Nitrite	0.87	400	1923.35	0.21	1.08	2077.913
13	Devyani International	11.68	400	178.46	2.24	13.92	2484.57
14	Divis Labs	0.35	400	5726.4	0.07	0.42	2387.436
15	DMART Avenue Supermart	0.56	400	3530.75	0.11	0.67	2372.514
16	Eicher	0.38	400	4989.8	0.08	0.46	2316.832
17	Garware Technical	2.60	400	753.15	0.53	3.13	2356.996
18	Havells	1.31	400	1547.9	0.26	1.57	2432.432
19	HCL Tech	1.12	400	1636.1	0.24	1.36	2225.139
20	HDFC Bank	1.21	400	1682.35	0.24	1.45	2439.459
21	HUL	0.84	400	2259.3	0.18	1.02	2308.112
22	ICICI Bank	1.65	400	1224.15	0.33	1.98	2424.727
23	Indian Hotels	2.56	400	724.65	0.55	3.11	2255.223
24	Infosys	1.07	400	1767.7	0.23	1.29	2285.094
25	Jio Finance	8.18	400	226.32	1.77	9.95	2251.667
26	Kotak Mahindra Bank	1.06	400	1967.25	0.20	1.26	2485.94
27	L&T Technologies	0.37	400	4727.85	0.08	0.45	2141.061
28	LTI Mindtree	0.33	400	4963.2	0.08	0.41	2054.91
29	Mankind Pharma	0.80	400	2342.1	0.17	0.97	2268.523
30	Manyavar Vedant Fashions	1.77	400	822.65	0.49	2.25	1852.675
31	Metro Shoes	1.63	400	1139.7	0.35	1.98	2252.192
32	Muthoot Finance	0.92	400	2183.25	0.18	1.10	2409.064
33	Naukri Info Edge	0.27	400	7323.65	0.05	0.32	2366.859
34	Nestle	0.91	400	2250.4	0.18	1.08	2438.498
35	Nykaa	11.95	400	163.14	2.45	14.40	2349.453
36	Page Industries	0.04	400	41929.55	0.01	0.05	2207.493
37	PayTM	2.48	400	734.7	0.54	3.02	2219.803
38	Pidilite	0.70	400	2696.5	0.15	0.85	2289.265
39	Reliance	1.60	400	1204	0.33	1.94	2332.119
40	SRF	0.77	400	2768.05	0.14	0.92	2542.495
41	Tata Consumer	2.02	400	1004.85	0.40	2.41	2425.193
42	Tata Elxsi	0.31	400	5696.65	0.07	0.38	2187.829
43	Tata Motors	2.72	400	661.6	0.60	3.33	2202.479
44	TCS	0.48	400	3629.55	0.11	0.59	2148.191
45	Titan	0.59	400	3198.8	0.13	0.71	2280.458
46	Torrent Pharma	0.62	416.01	3031.05	0.14	0.75	2282.19
47	Trent	0.36	400	4959.9	0.08	0.44	2206.737
48	Tube Investments	0.62	400	2595.45	0.15	0.77	2006.021
49	Varun Beverages	3.69	400	476.5	0.84	4.53	2159.276
50	Zomato	9.28	400	225.63	1.77	11.05	2493.043

*Torrent Pharma’s dividend came during this month, and I am counting that as re-invested in the same stock.

Invested Amount	120000
Current Value	116557.2

The progress chart –

The divergence has started, and interestingly the strategy of “mutual funds sahi hai” is the laggard among the three. Let’s see where we are when we come to the next month.