In just four trading sessions, the BSE Sensex surged by another 1,000 points breaching 19,000 on Monday, while NSE’s Nifty jumped close to 350 points during the same period.

Brokers said the rally was driven mainly by liquidity flowing from overseas funds.

The Sensex gained 639 points or 3.47 per cent today closing at 19,058.67.

The S&P CNX Nifty went up by 4.46 per cent, closing at 5,670.40.

The FIIs were net buyers to the tune of 2,868.59 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors were net sellers to the tune of 281.11 crore.

“This rally is mainly liquidity-driven and foreign investors are willing to pay a premium for Indian assets. There is also a more fundamental reason that corporates are doing well, as almost all companies which have come out with their results are reporting an average 40-50 per cent rise in their bottomlines,” said Mr C.J. George, Geojit Financial Services Ltd.
Metals shine

The top sectoral gainer today was BSE-Metal, which rose 9.16 per cent, followed by BSE-PSU, which was up 5.57 per cent and Oil & Gas, which rose 4.51 per cent.

“Many fund houses are reducing their exposure in developed countries and increasing it in emerging markets and as a result we are witnessing huge inflows from overseas and these are taking the market to higher levels,” said Ms Anita Gandhi, Head of Institutional Business, Arihant Capital Markets Ltd.

“There seems to be only five to six stocks driving the market as of now, but there might be a major re-rating, all across the grade,” said Mr Sanjay Sinha, Chief Investment Officer, SBI Funds Management Private Ltd.

According to analysts, metal shares were in the limelight as companies have increased prices, passing on the rise input costs to their customers.

“It seems that there are a handful of people driving the market and creating such a euphoria,” said Mr R. Balagopal, Senior Vice-President, Fedex Securities Ltd.

Major gainers

The major gainers today were Reliance Energy, up 12.90 per cent, ONGC (9.11 per cent), Tata Steel (7.46 per cent), Maruti Udyog (5.79 per cent), whereas Hindustan Unilever dipped by 0.99 per cent and Infosys Technologies Ltd fell 0.09 per cent.

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Mutual funds are the right way to invest in stocks and bonds for individual investors. By following the right principles and rules, it can be both profitable and tension-free. Here are five rules for starting out right.

* Rule-1: If you can afford to, build your portfolio with at least three “core” mutual funds

The core should represent at least 50 percent of your holdings. Once you’ve established the core, you can build around it. But don’t get carried away — just a few funds will do. Consider three areas: stocks with a large market capitalization, small-company stocks, and international stocks.

Large-cap funds should represent 50 to 60 per-cent of a long-term portfolio. If you have already started a portfolio with a balanced fund, it can serve as a large-cap core holding.

Mid-cap funds should represent up to 25 to 30 percent of a long-term portfolio. Picking a good fund in this category is one of the toughest exercises for an investor because few funds are solid long-term performers. When a fund establishes a great track record, assets explode and the manager often can’t find enough good small companies to buy.

International-stock funds should represent 10 to 15 percent of a long-term portfolio.

Once you’ve selected your core funds, sit tight. These are long-term, buy-and-hold investments. You should not sell them unless there is a substantial change in the fund. As your portfolio grows, you can add specialty funds around them.

* Rule-2: Start with just one fund if that’s all you can afford

A portfolio or group of three or more funds is ideal. But starting with just one fund is much better than keeping your money in the bank. Don’t be intimidated by the suggestion that you must be an investment pro with lots of money to invest.

* Think of your single fund as the core of what will someday be a group of funds.
* Buy a fund that’s a proven winner. Don’t experiment.
* Plan to buy and hold. You should think of investing as a long-term program.

Here are some funds for a “starter kit”:

Balanced Funds:

These funds invest in both the stock and bond markets. Some require the manager to hold a mix of, say, 60 percent stocks and 40 percent bonds. Others give their managers more leeway. But all balanced funds invest in both markets, which makes their returns less volatile. It also keeps these returns somewhat lower than a pure stock fund’s.

Index Funds:

Index funds contain a mix of securities that mimics a market index. Because such a fund bolds securities in the same relative weightings as the index and trades infrequently, expenses are low. In a good index fund, returns parallel the market. Index funds work well for beginners because there is no portfolio manager to monitor.

Equity-Income Funds:

These are among the most conservative of stock fund offerings.

Remember, though, that you look for something different in a single fund than in a group of funds that make up a portfolio. When you begin to add funds, you’ll need to take extra care to avoid overlap because your single fund probably covers a lot of bases.

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The bull rally on the bourses suddenly reversed its course on Friday as investors booked profit at higher levels.

The benchmark Sensex dipped by 395.03 points and closed at 18,419.04, down by 2.1 per cent.

The S&P CNX Nifty was down by 1.75 per cent and closed at 5,428.25.

Rupee dips

Tracking the equity market, the rupee also fell about five paise against the US dollar. The home currency opened at 39.29/31 and then quickly rallied to 39.45 and closed at 39.36/37.

In the equity market, domestic institutions were net sellers to the tune of Rs 883.68 crore, while FIIs were net buyers.

The net gainers include Reliance Energy, ONGC, M&M and Hindalco. Top losers include SBI, ICICI Bank, L&T and Tata Motors.

Mr Harendra Kumar, Head-Research, ICICI Direct, said, a correction was expected as the markets could not sustain the kind of rally seen in the past few days.

A dealer said Indian markets took cues from the weak global markets. The Dow fell by 0.45 per cent, Hang Seng by 1.01 per cent and Nasdaq by 1.40 per cent.

Almost all the major indices on local bourses were in red, with BSE-Realty dipping the most by 3.29 per cent, BSE-CG down by 2.77 per cent, whereas Bankex fell 2.72 per cent.

“Although the interest rate cut will benefit the Realty sector, today’s dip has only one plausible reason being that it has gone through a routine correction,” said Mr Manish Sonthalia, Equity Strategy, Motilal Oswal.

Biggest losers on the Sensex were State Bank of India (down 4.23%), Larsen & Toubro (3.61%), Tata Motors (3.41%), ICICI Bank (3.37%), BHEL (3.30%), Cipla (3.30) and Reliance Communications (3.14%).

Biggest gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Energy (up 3.76%), ONGC (1.74%), Hindalco (1.51%), M&M (1.37%) and Tata Steel (0.52%). The BSE saw 1,688 declines and 1,054 advances while NSE saw 810 losers and 368 gainers.

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Starting the claims process for long term insurance income is fairly simple. Individual and group policies (in the Summary Plan Description, or SPD for short) both lay out who to notify: with an individual policy, contact your insurer; if a group plan, run to the HR department or employer. If you have misplaced your policy, call your insurance company for a copy. Read it carefully and educate yourself.

Start your long term disability insurance claim early, as time is not on your side. Most insurance policies have time limits within which you must notify the company. The longer you wait—perhaps to collect more information to support your claim—the more you risk a delay in review and payment in your mail box. (However, if you miss this time limit, many states require the insurer to prove prejudice caused by the late submission.)

You will then be provided with a number of forms to be completed and signed regarding the claim.

Completion of the Required Claim Forms

It is critically important that you complete or have completed all the claim forms provided, in as detailed a fashion as possible. Providing the insurance company with as much claim documentation as you can up front means the less they have to ask for later. Failure to do so will most likely result in the claim being denied for failure to provide proof of disability. Typically, these forms include the following:

* A Disability Claim Form to be completed by you stating the reasons you are disabled and requiring identification of your treating physician(s).
* An Attending Physician’s Statement to be completed by your treating physician stating the restrictions and limitations which prevent you from performing the material duties of your occupation, and the expected duration of your disability.
* An Employer’s Statement to be completed by your employer stating your rate of pay and your job duties as of the time you ceased active employment.
* An Authorization for Release of Medical Information allowing the insurer/claims administrator to obtain your medical records.

You will be expected to complete or arrange for the completion of these forms and to return them or have them returned to the insurer or claims administrator.

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Foreign investment options for Indians increased Monday. ICICI Bank’s online trading arm launched its overseas trading service, which will allow investments across 13 U.S. stock exchanges, including Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange.

ICICIdirect.com has teamed up with Dallas, Texas-based Penson Financial Services for the initiative. Investors will be able to trade in U.S. stocks, including ADRs, exchange traded funds, stock options and index options. Mumbai-based ICICI (nyse: IBN - news - people ) is exploring similar tie-ups in other markets, such as in Europe.

“We believe that Indian investors are looking at diversifying their portfolio and overseas trading service enables them to do so,” said Subrata Mukherji, chief executive of ICICI Securities Limited.

“The U.S. equity markets are most liquid and deepest in the world and allow investors to spread country and sectoral risk more effectively,” he said, adding that customers could invest in sectors like biotechnology, semiconductors and Internet companies that are underrepresented here.

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Reuters - Opening a business in India usually involves navigating through mountains of red tape. A World Bank report ranks India 120th out of 178 countries in ease of doing business.

Here is a look at some key approvals required to start a business in India:

AUTOMATIC/FIPB ROUTE:

- The country’s central bank (Reserve Bank of India) gives an automatic approval based on the percent of the foreign direct investment (FDI) to a foreign company to start business in India, subject to the nature of business.

Otherwise there are some sectors in which foreign businesses can invest with prior approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) of the Ministry of Finance.

REGISTERING A COMPANY:

- Setting up a company in India requires incorporation with the regional registrar of companies (ROC). A public company would need a certificate to commence business.

- There are more than 12 approvals that are required if a foreign firms wants to own land and construct its own premises.
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