Investors hope for Santa rally to ease some pain

The Santa Claus rally is a tendency of stocks to rise in the last five trading sessions of a calendar year and the first two of the New Year. Since 2011-12, the Nifty has gained on nine out of 11 occasions during this seven-day period, according to data compiled by ET.

FPIs lap up defensive stocks on return to Dalal Street

Why is that so? For a start, defensive stocks should protect downside risks in a global environment that even the surest of soothsayers wouldn’t describe as predictable. Then, valuations in India aren’t cheap by any stretch of imagination, which puts territorial limits on how far the investing equivalent of explorers would go.