Russian rumblings

The headwinds for the markets come from the US 10-year yield rising sharply to 4 per cent, the dollar index rising to 101.7, Brent crude rising above $83 and FPIs selling stocks for Rs 3,979 crore in the cash market, says V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services. The market is delicately poised with strong headwinds and some tailwinds, he said. While these strong headwinds can impact the market, support can come from the strong US 2nd quarter GDP number of 2.4 per cent. Since the ongoing global rally,led by the mother market US, is primarily driven by the US soft landing narrative, this data can provide some support when the market turns weak. Investors have to be careful chasing small-caps which are in overvalued territory. Large-caps, even when richly valued, are safe unlike risky small-caps, he added. Pharma is staging a comeback and there is value-buying happening in beaten down metal stocks, he said. Unlike nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles that can destroy entire cities, tactical nuclear weapons for use against troops on the battlefield can have a yield as small as about 1 kiloton. The U.S. bomb in Hiroshima in World War II was 15 kilotons.