One third of the year 2010 passed without much excitement in the market. Stock market in India was dull during the first four months of 2010 which saw a gain of mere 0.54% in the BSE Sensex and 1.48% in NSE Nifty.

I managed a gain of 2.92% to date this year and maintained my record of beating the market even if it is a nominal gain. Which stocks helped me to beat the market this year? Piramal Healthcare which I bought towards end of January gave me a return of 54%. Piramal Healthcare constitutes 4.7% in my Indian equity portfolio. The other companies in my portfolio that gained most in the last four months are Gujarat Gas (23%), Dabur India (13%), and Tata Tea (12%). But of course it was not only gainers league. The stocks that dragged me down are Suzlon Energy (-24%), Tata Communications (-19%), NTPC (-12%), Bharti Airtel (-9%). Bharti Airtel constitutes 9% in my portfolio. Hope these will be contributing towards gain in coming months!

In my watch list, Bharti Airtel (Current Price: 298.40 – Target Price: 529.00) and Tata Communications (Current Price: 270.95 – Target Price: 484.00) in Telecom sector, Hero Honda (Current Price: 1,904.95 – Target Price: 2,943.00) in Automobile sector, Crompton Greaves (Current Price: 263.50 – Target Price: 394.00) in Engineering, and Cadila Healthcare (Current Price: 564.50 – Target Price: 818.00) are the good buys.

Top 5 in my equity portfolio

Shares I bought in April 2010

Most gain (absolute)

Sensex gained 0.59% to 17,694 and Nifty by 0.79% to 5,304 this week. Year to date gain of Sensex stands at 1.31% and Nifty 1.98%. Year to date gain in my equity portfolio stands at 2.26% which slightly beat the market!

In my watch list, Bharti Airtel (297.70) and Tata Communications (277.60) in Telecom sector, Hero Honda (1,883.65) in Automobile sector, and NIIT Technologies (177.70) in IT sector are the good buys at the current market price. As always, set limits for individual shares and individual sectors in order to avoid concentration on a few shares in your portfolio.

Top 5 in my equity portfolio

Shares I bought this Week

Most gain (absolute)

Tata Communication, Bharti Airtel, Hero Honda and NIIT Technology are at attractive price to buy!

A sluggish quarter – simply put, it was the first quarter of 2010. Sensex moved up just 0.36% and I had a loss of 0.48% during the quarter. At the same time, for the financial year ended 31.3.2010, Sensex gained 80.55% while my equity portfolio gained 95.90%.

During the last three months I made fresh investments in Larsen and Toubro, Piramal Healthcare, Tata Communications, Biocon, Hero Honda and Glenmark Pharma spanning engineering, pharmaceutical, telecommunication and automobile sectors! I offloaded part of Gujarat Gas and L&T pocketing a margin of 96% in an average holding period of 1.5 years!

As on 31^st March 2010, my top 5 holdings are in Infosys, Tata Tea, Bharti Airtel, Gujarat Gas and Dabur India which amounts to 57% of total equity portfolio. The one with most unrealized gain is Gujarat Gas with 117% on an average holding period of 23 months and one still in negative is Tata Communication with an average holding period of 3 months.

With the current market price, Tata Communication, Bharti Airtel, Hero Honda and NIIT Technology are at attractive price to buy! Since Telecommunication and IT sector has reached my maximum sector limit in my portfolio, I will be buying Hero Honda next week.

In the year 2009, my equity portfolio gave me a return of 105%! At the same time, Sensex gained 81%  and Nifty 76%. For the two year period from January 1, 2008, my return is 38% while it was a loss of 14% for both Sensex and Nifty! This is the power of long term view of investment. It is not the up and down of the Sensex that determines your return. It is based on what companies you invest in! If you invest in good companies, don’t bother about the movements of Sensex. Shortlist good companies, and invest at the right price! By investing with a long term view, you don’t have to hook up in front of computer screen watching the market movement every day.

My current holdings has 15 companies which now has gained altogether 40%. Since the market has shoot up too much so fast recently, I am currently not buying any thing aggressively, but selling those which have achieved my target. I still hold some shares that I bought in March 2006! Average holding period of my current holding is 18 months. My largest holding is Infosys Technologies.

Suzlon Energy is the biggest gainer in my current portfolio which stands at 132% and I will be holding it for some more longer time. I am holding it since December 2008. Tata Communications which I bought recently is at a loss of 4%.

The highest return on shares that I sold during 2009 was on Tech Mahindra. It was sold with a gain of 270% in 10 months! And my biggest loss in one company was 92% on Gremach Infrastructure. In fact, Gremach was not a good company that qualify for investment as per my investment principle. It was a mistake.

At the moment, I would be more cautious until a correction, but would not hesitate to invest if I find a good company at the reasonable price. I don’t listen to brokers call. I depend on independent research reports, most of them paid service and some comes free. But it is worth paying. Drops Savings Investments suggest one company a month which is at attractive valuation at the time of recommendation. This recommendation is made after studying various research reports and company reports and continuously tracking its price movements and news. This is from the watch list that I track for my own investment and it is what I would be investing.

You are free to contact me at any time and it would be my pleasure to give my suggestion at any time.

What to buy this week? I dont’s see anything from my watchlist or I will have to expand my watchlist to see anything sitting undervalued and unnoticed. Indian shares are getting too expensive!

Suzlong Energy might be a good bet! But it is already in my top 10 holding and I dont add more of those shares which are in top 10 while top 10 constitute more than 80%! Now it has gone like 92.00%. My holding in Suzlon has already given me 100% return within a year! I still hold it because I see its value and its potential to gain more!

Now the stock market in UAE is getting cheap and may consider buying here selectively!