Top-10 fund schemes return over 25% each In 1 year as Sensex loses about 50%…

A touch of gold has done wonders for mutual fund investors in India. Over the past one year, from a group of 925 mutual fund schemes, 10 have given returns of 25% or more. And, these funds are either a gold exchange-traded fund (ETF) or a gilt scheme. Among the top five, four are gold ETFs and one is a gilt fund. Compared to positive returns …

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HURRAY! INDIA has proved herself once again. After a sweeping win of Indian artists at the Oscars (I am referring to Slumdog Millionaire winning 8 Oscar awards), an Indian bank has now surpassed the till-now global banking major - Citibank - in terms of market capitalization.

According to a report published in The Times of India, Citigroup, with assets worth $1.95 trillion (Rs 9,72,075 crore), now values less than our own the State Bank of India (SBI). On Tuesday morning (at …

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Black Gold (i.e. Oil) has lost its sheen, and how! Today, the cost of a litre of petrol or diesel for Indian oil majors is less than the price of a bottle of packaged water. Back-of-the-envelope calculations show that a litre of petrol costs about Rs 11 and diesel about Rs 14, excluding transportation and sundry other charges. By contrast, a one-litre bottle of water costs between Rs 12-15. 

Here’s how the arithmetic goes. A barrel of crude oil contains about …

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Zimbabwe’s central bank has today released the new note into circulation in their attempt to battle hyperinflation…

Zimbabwe’s central bank has today launched a $50billion note into circulation, despite the currency being virtually worthless, as per Money.co.uk reports. According to today’s estimates the $50billion note will trade at $1.25 US dollars on the black market and have enough purchase power to buy just two loaves of bread or three newspapers.

Three weeks previous, when the government introduced a $10billion note, the equivalent …

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Equity Linked Savings Schemes (ELSS) are the ideal way to gain in the share market while reducing your tax burden. These are diversified schemes, floated by different mutual fund houses, which invest more than 80% of their funds in shares and have the added advantage of tax benefits. You also benefit from portfolio diversification and professional fund management.

Objectives & Features:

Type of scheme: Diversified equity scheme
Scheme objective: Capital appreciation
Asset allocation: 80-100% in equity
Lock in period: 3 years
Return: In line with equity …

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There are funds which, while having the potential to give higher returns in the long term, also carry the baggage of high volatility. These particular schemes tend to remain in losses in the short- and even medium-term – that’s longer than some of the other funds – because of aggressive investment strategies. As a result, such schemes are good only if you have the ability to see off the negative returns in your portfolio for a fairly long time. In …

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United States of America

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for November declined by 1.7% mom, the decline was higher compared with the drop of 1.0% in the previous month. The steep m-o-m decline in the consumer prices indicates the possibility of deflationary situation in the USA.
The initial jobless claims for the week ended December 2007 increased to 573,000 compared with 515,000 in the previous week. The factory orders for October declined by 5.1% yoy as compared with a decline of 3.1% …

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