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To catch manipulators, markets regulator Sebi has started looking at Facebook accounts of suspected persons, with 'friends' and 'likes' for posts being scanned in insider trading cases.

Harried mutual fund (MF) houses, which have a huge exposure to ICICI Bank, have met non-executive chairman M K Sharma after a litany of allegations surfaced against the lender’s MD & CEO Chanda Kochhar. The MF executives discussed all issues, including succession planning, according to a source. “There have been meetings between Sharma and the mutual fund houses to assuage their concerns.

The fixed income market has historically been relatively illiquid, both in India as well as globally. The Indian bond market is smaller than other Asian markets, such as China and Korea, but is more liquid than them. Yet it is largely inaccessible to retail investors.

Over five crore subscribers of retirement fund body EPFO will get an option to increase or decrease investments of their provident fund into stocks through exchange trade funds (ETF) in the current financial year.

Mutual fund advisors say many of their clients, worried about the impact of the general election in 2019 on their mutual fund portfolio and a likely increase in volatility in the market, are calling them up to ask whether they should make any changes to their investment strategy.

As names of many mutual fund schemes change and portfolios realign with regulatory requirements, it is possible some investors could be confused about what they should do with their mutual fund holdings. It may make sense to work with a financial advisor who can advise and guide you on your investment decisions.

Equity investors had quite a ride in FY18. The first nine months were a relentless rally, followed by a sharp fall in the last three months. Yet, the benchmark Sensex index managed a return of around 10%. For several active mutual fund managers, outperforming the indices in the financial year proved to be a hard ask. And it wasn’t easy for portfolio management services (PMS) either, despite their smaller and more focused portfolios. PMS schemes are seen to have an advantage over mutual funds as portfolios are individually managed.

The NSE’s index services subsidiary, India Index Services & Products, on Wednesday launched a quality-factor-based smart-beta index named, Nifty200 Quality 30. The Nifty200 Quality 30 index includes the top 30 companies from its parent Nifty 200 index. The selection is based on ‘quality’ scores.

Buying gold on Akshaya Tritiya is a tradition followed by many Indians for years now as it is considered auspicious and is thought to bring good luck. Even though the price of gold has not moved much over the past five years, many still flock to buy gold. Now, if you are looking at investing in paper gold this Akshaya Tritiya you can do so either through Gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGBs).

Many mutual fund investors, especially the new ones, are concerned about volatility in the market these days. Most of them are nervous about the ups and downs in the market and how it impacts their mutual fund portfolios. This is one of the main reason why some mutual fund advisors always place a lot of emphasis on the scheme’s ability to manage volatility.

Nearly everyone wants to be rich, yet very few people take the necessary steps. A 2015 study by Northwestern Mutual found that roughly 34% of the 5,000-odd survey respondents had not planned for their financial future and 43% had never sought any advice on retirement planning. Also, quite tellingly, 58% of the respondents believed their financial planning efforts required serious attention.

Actively managed funds take different routes to generate alpha, or excess returns over the benchmark index. While stock selection is important, determining the level of exposure in chosen bets is also critical. Fund managers can be overweight or underweight in sectors or stocks relative to the index—investing more or less than the holding in the index.

The Finance Ministry may come out with a Rs 10,000-crore follow-on fund offer of the Bharat-22 exchange traded fund (ETF) as it looks to dilute stake in Coal India to meet the minimum public holding norm.

Avendus Enhanced Return Fund (AERF), the second hedge fund launched by Avendus Capital, has crossed Rs1,000 crore in assets under management (AUM) in the four months since its launch, the financial services group said in a statement on Tuesday. The hedge fund is managed by Avendus Capital Public Market Alternate Strategies, part of Avendus’ asset management business.

What’s the first thing you check before investing in a mutual fund? It’s past performance. But what if a scheme’s past performance is not relevant to what the scheme will do henceforth? That’s the question in front of many mutual fund investors these days as they grapple with dozens of emails by fund houses announcing their scheme merger plans. Last year, capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) asked fund houses to align all their schemes—and merge or consolidate if required—to 36 categories.