Action vs inaction

You may have assumed our cover story of 'Wealth Insight' August 2023 issue is about stocks and markets, but it's not. Instead, it is about investor psychology. The markets look hot and have looked hot for a while now. But are they actually hot? Only time can tell. I remember a day in 2006 when the BSE Sensex first hit 10,000 points. Going from a four-digit Sensex to a five-digit one felt like a historic moment. Psychologically, in terms of what investors felt about the future prospects of their investments, it was a very big deal. The only historical parallel was the day in July 1990 when the Sensex first crossed 1,000 points. However, that was a different India and a different stock market altogether. In any case, reaching four digits is too entangled in the painful memories of the Harshad Mehta scam. There will be a day in a few years when the Sensex will reach 1,00,000 points. These