| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 58 | 1:34:50.616 | 1 | 10 |
| 2 | 3 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW | 58 | +5.4 secs | 5 | 8 |
| 3 | 7 | Nico Rosberg | Williams-Toyota | 58 | +8.1 secs | 7 | 6 |
| 4 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 58 | +17.1 secs | 11 | 5 |
| 5 | 23 | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren-Mercedes | 58 | +18.0 secs | 3 | 4 |
| 6 | 8 | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams-Toyota | 57 | +1 Lap | 13 | 3 |
| 7 | 14 | Sebastien Bourdais | STR-Ferrari | 55 | Engine | 17 | 2 |
| 8 | 1 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 53 | Engine | 15 | 1 |
| Ret | 4 | Robert Kubica | BMW | 47 | Accident | 2 | |
| Ret | 12 | Timo Glock | Toyota | 43 | Accident | 18 | |
| Ret | 18 | Takuma Sato | Super Aguri-Honda | 32 | Transmission | 19 | |
| Ret | 6 | Nelsinho Piquet | Renault | 30 | Accident damage | 20 | |
| Ret | 2 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 29 | Engine | 4 | |
| Ret | 9 | David Coulthard | Red Bull-Renault | 25 | Accident | 8 | |
| Ret | 11 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 19 | Electrical | 6 | |
| Ret | 20 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Ferrari | 8 | Hydraulics | 22 | |
| Ret | 10 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 0 | Accident | 14 | |
| Ret | 16 | Jenson Button | Honda | 0 | Accident | 12 | |
| Ret | 19 | Anthony Davidson | Super Aguri-Honda | 0 | Accident | 21 | |
| Ret | 15 | Sebastian Vettel | STR-Ferrari | 0 | Accident | 9 | |
| Ret | 21 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Force India-Ferrari | 0 | Accident | 16 | |
| DSQ | 17 | Rubens Barrichello | Honda | 58 | +52.4 secs | 10 |
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
2008 FORMULA 1 - ING AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX
Fight for Championship - 2008
Lewis Hamilton is a serious contender for clinching the Championship this time, but he will be given a tough fight by last year Champion Kimi Räikkönen. Fernando Alonso, one of the best drivers on the circuit, with a formidable fighting spirit will try his best to claim a second Championship for Renault, though a lot will depend on the how his car behaves. Brazilian Felipe Massa, the second driver for Ferrari, though not seen as a contender for Championship should be giving tough time to all the three drivers mentioned above. One will surely see him picking up crucial points for Ferrari. The final result will depend mostly on how Ferrari behaves on the circuit. Though Kimi clinched the Championship for Ferrari last year, the car’s performance has been erratic. I don’t see
2008 FIA Formula One World Championship Race Calendar
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Cricket Fever - I
As I write this, Indian team is preparing to face Aussies in the first T-20 among the two cricketing giants on Australian soil. After all the limelight that Monkey or Ma-ki Symonds enjoyed and the bad name that the Aussies earned during the recent test series again India, this one will surely be a cracker. Aussies do have bitter memories of their last few T-20 matches against India and will like to settle the score. On the other side Indians will love to beat Aussies once again and gain the much needed moral booster before Sunday's opening CB Series match against Aussies at the Gabba.
The recent test series between India and Aussies showed the ugly face of Australian cricket and also proved that Cricket was no more a Gentleman's game. Aussies have been notoriously know for their on the field sledging, but this time even Australian media was helping their national side, with one Australian Daily publishing an article on religious diversity in Indian team stating the dominance of Brahmins among Indian team. Even the Australian Prime Minister issued a statement asking Ponting and his men to behave nicely with the men in blue.
It's good for the Indian team that racism charge against Bhajji were not proven and he was just fined 50 per cent of his match fees owing to abuse and insult charges. The respect Bhajji offered to the Indian Flag on the day of India's test win over Aussies was really heartening. Bhajji showed the kind of intensity that cricket draws these days. It's not just a clash of 22 players on the field but it's virtually a clash of two nations.
P.S. Thanks to Khitiz for this wonderful pic. Nice camera skills buddy...
Friday, January 25, 2008
Falling Stock Markets and Startups
Indian stock market and stock markets across fell sharply last week and earlier this week owing to fears of recession in the US. All the companies who are listed on the bourses plunged sharply. When the whole market is going thru a bad patch with valuations going low and certain stocks hitting their 52 week lows what actually happens to the startups, companies which have just come up. Are the budding entrepreneur able to defy falling markets ?
A lot actually depends on the kind of business they are in and then the source of funding. If the company is looking forward to raise money from the market by going public a falling market is surely going to affect their valuations. Apart from this Grey market premium, which investors look for before investing in an IPO, for such stocks will also go down. A recent example in this case is the Reliance Power IPO. Two weeks back Grey market premium for RelPow was seen at Rs. 400, which is currently at Rs. 200. But even in falling markets we see stocks which defy the trend and head north wards. What makes these stocks defy a market-wide phenomenon. Some of the points to look out for are :
1. Cash flow model : This projects how the company is currently handling its funds and gives a clear picture of profit or losses made by the company till date.
2. Projects in hand : The number of projects or contracts in hand can be used by people in judging the profits the company is going to make in future. Based on the current working or the way the current projects are being handled also gives a clue to how the company is going to perform in future.
3. Long term vision : What are the long term plans of the company? How is the company planning to grow?
The positives that come out as a result of falling markets are in terms of growing interest of VCs(Venture Capitalists) in startups. When the markets are buoyant VCs tend to invest their money in front line companies which are safe to invest in. But in falling markets VCs look out for options other than those front line stocks taking risks by investing into startups.
The key to sustained growth for startups in falling markets will be not to panic when there is a credit squeeze and stick to the long term plan.
A lot actually depends on the kind of business they are in and then the source of funding. If the company is looking forward to raise money from the market by going public a falling market is surely going to affect their valuations. Apart from this Grey market premium, which investors look for before investing in an IPO, for such stocks will also go down. A recent example in this case is the Reliance Power IPO. Two weeks back Grey market premium for RelPow was seen at Rs. 400, which is currently at Rs. 200. But even in falling markets we see stocks which defy the trend and head north wards. What makes these stocks defy a market-wide phenomenon. Some of the points to look out for are :
1. Cash flow model : This projects how the company is currently handling its funds and gives a clear picture of profit or losses made by the company till date.
2. Projects in hand : The number of projects or contracts in hand can be used by people in judging the profits the company is going to make in future. Based on the current working or the way the current projects are being handled also gives a clue to how the company is going to perform in future.
3. Long term vision : What are the long term plans of the company? How is the company planning to grow?
The positives that come out as a result of falling markets are in terms of growing interest of VCs(Venture Capitalists) in startups. When the markets are buoyant VCs tend to invest their money in front line companies which are safe to invest in. But in falling markets VCs look out for options other than those front line stocks taking risks by investing into startups.
The key to sustained growth for startups in falling markets will be not to panic when there is a credit squeeze and stick to the long term plan.
BULLS go wild !!!
A wonderful day at BSE & NSE saw the return of the BULLS.
My last post had a few recommendations. Let us see how good they were :
TCS : 881.55 +38.85 (+4.61%)
ABB : 1,255.75 +84.60 (+7.22%)
L&T : 3,890.40 +352.05 (+9.95%)
RIL : 2,609.55 +119.00 (+4.78%)
GMR Infra : 194.40 +31.50 (+19.34%)
Unitech : 439.00 +66.30 (+17.79%)
Punj Lloyd : 450.95 +32.05 (+7.65%)
Orbit : 754.85 +77.25 (+11.4%)
RPL : 173.00 +11.70 (+7.25%)
RNRL : 144.35 +12.80 (+9.73%)
Howzz that !!!
My last post had a few recommendations. Let us see how good they were :
TCS : 881.55 +38.85 (+4.61%)
ABB : 1,255.75 +84.60 (+7.22%)
L&T : 3,890.40 +352.05 (+9.95%)
RIL : 2,609.55 +119.00 (+4.78%)
GMR Infra : 194.40 +31.50 (+19.34%)
Unitech : 439.00 +66.30 (+17.79%)
Punj Lloyd : 450.95 +32.05 (+7.65%)
Orbit : 754.85 +77.25 (+11.4%)
RPL : 173.00 +11.70 (+7.25%)
RNRL : 144.35 +12.80 (+9.73%)
Howzz that !!!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Falling Stock Market - Wait or Invest ?
I'll refer to a couple of articles which I read here and there, as I write this one. One of them sarcastically saying "Saare Zameen Par". The similarity between the movie - "Taare Zameen Par" and the stock market is that both made an impact on people whosoever was involved, albeit the movie did a nice business in theaters and the stock market plunged in tandem with the world markets. Seen what happened to the market last week no one will possibly like to invest ones hard earned money in the market.
"Whether I should or I should not?" is what comes to mind when one sees falling stock prices. I was going thru a post on one of my friend's blog which said "Buy a stock when it is hitting 52 week low or just going with your instinct to put some amount to contribute an iota to the company and keep fingers crossed to get good benefit out of it". Well that sounds like a good plan. Actually reading it I felt very good coz atleast he has a plan, when most of us just keep thinking and finally end up saying to the buoyant market "Wish I had invested that time". But how does one decide if the bad days for market are over or for that matter for the stock in which one is planning to invest. The prudent thing in a falling market will be to stay away and not try to catch falling knives if one is a novice in the market.
Let me first talk about stocks hitting 52 week low my friend mentioned. There is always a tendency in the market that the stocks that hit their 52 week low may go on hitting further lows. But they may rebound as well. So incase you want to invest in a stock that is on a 52 week low see what kind of stock it is - is it a blue chip stock or large cap or one of the sectors you know is going to rebound very quick. For example if we take the current market condition most of the IT stocks are at their 52 week lows. The rising Rupee against Dollar and then the falling market has done the damage. In long run IT stocks are going to perform well but it may take time before the sector as a whole rebounds. But my suggestion - Buy IT stocks , especially TCS where the valuations look good.
Stocks which have their price per stock less that 10 or close to 10 are called penny stocks. Whenever market plunges one should refrain from investing money in penny stocks. The trigger that caused a rally in a penny stock last time may not happen again and penny stocks see very less or no movement at times.
Whenever there is a crash in the market one should try and invest money in large caps which are first to recover every time market bounces. So if you have a large cap stock which you see is strong on fundamentals go and buy at every dip. I'll take the example of large caps like ABB, L&T and Reliance Industries.
In the mid cap space look out for specific stocks catering to niche areas and the fundamentals for which seem strong and one has already seen a momentum in the stocks. The stocks of the likes of GMR Infra, Unitech, Punj Lloyd, Orbit Corporation are good buys at every dip. People who plan to go long with their investments in stock market should target stocks which will be multibaggers in coming days. RPL, RNRL should be picked at dips.
The overall picture of Indian Stock Market looks good. But once the market plunges, no one really knows how much time it will take to really bounce back. Market movement is going to be directed by global markets but India being a lucrative market for FIIs will bounce back at every available opportunity. So folks, don't miss to be a part of next rebound and make some clean money. For sure making money was never easy !!!
"Whether I should or I should not?" is what comes to mind when one sees falling stock prices. I was going thru a post on one of my friend's blog which said "Buy a stock when it is hitting 52 week low or just going with your instinct to put some amount to contribute an iota to the company and keep fingers crossed to get good benefit out of it". Well that sounds like a good plan. Actually reading it I felt very good coz atleast he has a plan, when most of us just keep thinking and finally end up saying to the buoyant market "Wish I had invested that time". But how does one decide if the bad days for market are over or for that matter for the stock in which one is planning to invest. The prudent thing in a falling market will be to stay away and not try to catch falling knives if one is a novice in the market.
Let me first talk about stocks hitting 52 week low my friend mentioned. There is always a tendency in the market that the stocks that hit their 52 week low may go on hitting further lows. But they may rebound as well. So incase you want to invest in a stock that is on a 52 week low see what kind of stock it is - is it a blue chip stock or large cap or one of the sectors you know is going to rebound very quick. For example if we take the current market condition most of the IT stocks are at their 52 week lows. The rising Rupee against Dollar and then the falling market has done the damage. In long run IT stocks are going to perform well but it may take time before the sector as a whole rebounds. But my suggestion - Buy IT stocks , especially TCS where the valuations look good.
Stocks which have their price per stock less that 10 or close to 10 are called penny stocks. Whenever market plunges one should refrain from investing money in penny stocks. The trigger that caused a rally in a penny stock last time may not happen again and penny stocks see very less or no movement at times.
Whenever there is a crash in the market one should try and invest money in large caps which are first to recover every time market bounces. So if you have a large cap stock which you see is strong on fundamentals go and buy at every dip. I'll take the example of large caps like ABB, L&T and Reliance Industries.
In the mid cap space look out for specific stocks catering to niche areas and the fundamentals for which seem strong and one has already seen a momentum in the stocks. The stocks of the likes of GMR Infra, Unitech, Punj Lloyd, Orbit Corporation are good buys at every dip. People who plan to go long with their investments in stock market should target stocks which will be multibaggers in coming days. RPL, RNRL should be picked at dips.
The overall picture of Indian Stock Market looks good. But once the market plunges, no one really knows how much time it will take to really bounce back. Market movement is going to be directed by global markets but India being a lucrative market for FIIs will bounce back at every available opportunity. So folks, don't miss to be a part of next rebound and make some clean money. For sure making money was never easy !!!
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Managers - Pay Packages High or Low
In todays competitive market it is prudent for an organization to spend out more finances in order to attract the best talent in the industry. With increasing competition in the market there is a dearth of talented people in the market. To stay ahead or at par with your peers in the market it is necessary to employ the best talented people in the market and good people do not come for cheap. Today there is a rush of employers at Business Schools with all organizations offering fat pay packages and if a company wants to employ people who are among the best brains in the industry, the company has to offer them competitive pay packages.
As Senior Management is involved in taking decisions and planning for the company, talented people at the Senior Management will help in overall growth of the company. Work done by an individual is always equivalent to the motivation levels at which that person is. In case the salaries of Senior Management are low, this will not act as a motivation factor and they may not give a 100 percent at work. This will affect the company's overall performance hitting company stock prices and affecting everyone linked to that company.
In case there are good and talented managers at the top, their decisions will take the company on a growth trajectory which will help lowest-paid employees in terms of getting salary hikes and bonuses at regular intervals. There are possibilities where lowest-paid employees may have company stocks and an overall growth of the company triggered by prudent decisions taken by managers at the top will help in rising stock prices are indirectly helping the lowest-paid.
Thus high salaries are necessary and are justified to attract the best managers, the individuals whose decisions have a great impact on the overall well being of the company which affects the lowest-paid employees as well.
As Senior Management is involved in taking decisions and planning for the company, talented people at the Senior Management will help in overall growth of the company. Work done by an individual is always equivalent to the motivation levels at which that person is. In case the salaries of Senior Management are low, this will not act as a motivation factor and they may not give a 100 percent at work. This will affect the company's overall performance hitting company stock prices and affecting everyone linked to that company.
In case there are good and talented managers at the top, their decisions will take the company on a growth trajectory which will help lowest-paid employees in terms of getting salary hikes and bonuses at regular intervals. There are possibilities where lowest-paid employees may have company stocks and an overall growth of the company triggered by prudent decisions taken by managers at the top will help in rising stock prices are indirectly helping the lowest-paid.
Thus high salaries are necessary and are justified to attract the best managers, the individuals whose decisions have a great impact on the overall well being of the company which affects the lowest-paid employees as well.
Monday, January 21, 2008
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time -- Book Review
The time someone told me about this book the title of the book sounded funny to me. Not only was it funny but it was longer compared to other book titles. But because it's a best-seller and was recommended to me by a friend, I bought it.
The time I started reading the book, I expected the author to be a young man or an elderly man. But the way the book has been put together as the first-person narrative of 15 year old boy Christopher, it is truly amazing. For once I felt I was back in time as a kid when I used to read story books, though I didn't do a lot of reading at that time. The book talks about a murder mystery, a family drama involving Christopher and above all it includes the minute details a child looks for in small things. The book is about how Christopher sees the word, while he tries to solve the murder mystery involving the murder of a dog. He is seen as emulating Sherlock Homes while working on solving it.
The book reflects different traits of Christopher. He is a guy who does not like people holding him, has difficulty understanding human expressions(the way he puts up those smileys in the book and talks about them), does not lie, is a mathematics genius and has a photographic memory. Christopher hates the colors yellow and brown, but loves red. The way he designates a day as a "good", "quite good", or "super good" day based on the number of red or yellow cars he sees on his way to school show his own idiosyncrasies.
The book is a fun read and you don't need to put in a lot of brain to understand what all is going on.
The time I started reading the book, I expected the author to be a young man or an elderly man. But the way the book has been put together as the first-person narrative of 15 year old boy Christopher, it is truly amazing. For once I felt I was back in time as a kid when I used to read story books, though I didn't do a lot of reading at that time. The book talks about a murder mystery, a family drama involving Christopher and above all it includes the minute details a child looks for in small things. The book is about how Christopher sees the word, while he tries to solve the murder mystery involving the murder of a dog. He is seen as emulating Sherlock Homes while working on solving it.
The book reflects different traits of Christopher. He is a guy who does not like people holding him, has difficulty understanding human expressions(the way he puts up those smileys in the book and talks about them), does not lie, is a mathematics genius and has a photographic memory. Christopher hates the colors yellow and brown, but loves red. The way he designates a day as a "good", "quite good", or "super good" day based on the number of red or yellow cars he sees on his way to school show his own idiosyncrasies.
The book is a fun read and you don't need to put in a lot of brain to understand what all is going on.
I am back !!!
It's been long since I last posted here. I have been acting a bit lazy to post anything here. And then was a bit busy with a couple of other things. But now I am free and have all the time in this world to update my blog.
Offlate I have been reading a lot of books. Started this year reading "Virtue of Selfishness" - Ayn Rand. On a serious note, don't go the book shop and buy this after reading this post of mine, coz this book is serious stuff and you may or may not like it. This is pure philosophy at its best - an extension of the principle of objectivism, the one that Ayn Rand corroborated in her other books "Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged". The book is a collection of essays that Ayn Rand wrote on Objectivism. As the book says people are apprehensive about picking a book with such a provoking title, but then once you read the book you understand the true meaning of "Being Selfish".
Being Selfish is not hurting someone, or making profits on the expense of others, but it is understanding and respecting your moral values and then acting in order to make sure you do not surrender your moral values or principles in order to make people feel good. Altruism or self-sacrifice is seen as an opposite to being selfish and people practice it to make others feel happy. When you sacrifice your desires one thing is for sure you will not be happy coz you will desire for only those things that make you feel happy. Going further into this, once you have surrendered your desires you surrender your knowledge about the object you desired or put it the other way you surrender what value that object had for you. You surrender your instincts that led you to that knowledge about that object. And to an extreme you surrender your mind or your brain which led you to all this knowledge. The surrender of ones brain is heinous of all crimes and such a person has no moral values.
One of the tests that touched me to a great extend was an instance where you see a person drowning in a river. What do you do ? In case you know swimming it is prudent to jump into the river and save the drowning man, but in case you do not know swimming what do you do. Do you still jump into the river to save that man ? If your answer is yes, then it's a disrespect to your own life. You are putting your life on stake not respecting your life when you are not sure whether you will be able to save that person or not. To make things worse lets place your wife in the place of the person who is drowning(I can see some guys smile here). What do you do now ? If you don't try to save her life jumping in the river you live all your life hearing that selfish tag put against your name. People will not miss a chance to disparage you. But if you do then its a treason. A treason to ones own life. The call is yours and I it is difficult to make.
All this is just a brief of what those 200 odd pages are all filled with. You remember some, you forget rest, but then if you are serious about giving a go at the book read at your own pace and try to understand what the book is all about.
I know how people react to books like these, coz I am one among you. We tend to pick all the provocative things from a book. Things that are obnoxious to others. Read it and maybe you will love it.
Offlate I have been reading a lot of books. Started this year reading "Virtue of Selfishness" - Ayn Rand. On a serious note, don't go the book shop and buy this after reading this post of mine, coz this book is serious stuff and you may or may not like it. This is pure philosophy at its best - an extension of the principle of objectivism, the one that Ayn Rand corroborated in her other books "Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged". The book is a collection of essays that Ayn Rand wrote on Objectivism. As the book says people are apprehensive about picking a book with such a provoking title, but then once you read the book you understand the true meaning of "Being Selfish".
Being Selfish is not hurting someone, or making profits on the expense of others, but it is understanding and respecting your moral values and then acting in order to make sure you do not surrender your moral values or principles in order to make people feel good. Altruism or self-sacrifice is seen as an opposite to being selfish and people practice it to make others feel happy. When you sacrifice your desires one thing is for sure you will not be happy coz you will desire for only those things that make you feel happy. Going further into this, once you have surrendered your desires you surrender your knowledge about the object you desired or put it the other way you surrender what value that object had for you. You surrender your instincts that led you to that knowledge about that object. And to an extreme you surrender your mind or your brain which led you to all this knowledge. The surrender of ones brain is heinous of all crimes and such a person has no moral values.
One of the tests that touched me to a great extend was an instance where you see a person drowning in a river. What do you do ? In case you know swimming it is prudent to jump into the river and save the drowning man, but in case you do not know swimming what do you do. Do you still jump into the river to save that man ? If your answer is yes, then it's a disrespect to your own life. You are putting your life on stake not respecting your life when you are not sure whether you will be able to save that person or not. To make things worse lets place your wife in the place of the person who is drowning(I can see some guys smile here). What do you do now ? If you don't try to save her life jumping in the river you live all your life hearing that selfish tag put against your name. People will not miss a chance to disparage you. But if you do then its a treason. A treason to ones own life. The call is yours and I it is difficult to make.
All this is just a brief of what those 200 odd pages are all filled with. You remember some, you forget rest, but then if you are serious about giving a go at the book read at your own pace and try to understand what the book is all about.
I know how people react to books like these, coz I am one among you. We tend to pick all the provocative things from a book. Things that are obnoxious to others. Read it and maybe you will love it.
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