Volatility is in these days. ‘Playing safe' and ‘going long-term' play no longer play a role in the modus operandi of the new-age investor in India. The new breed of investors likes to play the market and thrives on taking risks.

While volatility is generally perceived as an indicator of high risk, it can also be used to one's advantage by utilising it to earn returns in a very short span of time. To provide a reckoner on volatility ET Investor's Guide analysed intra-day volatility of BSE 100 stocks over a three-month period from September to November '07. We calculated the daily volatility for 64 trading sessions to arrive at the average volatility.

While there are complicated mathematical ways of calculating volatility, a simple method is by looking at the highest and lowest value of the stock.

Big miners drag stocks down

On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the December share price index contract was down 72 points to 6528, on a volume of 19,549 contracts. CMC Markets dealer Matt Wacher said lower base metal prices overnight are weighing on the local bourse. "Most of the sectors seem to be pretty flat. Energy and materials sectors are off," Mr Wacher said. "I guess the materials and energy sectors are off on the back of the commodity prices overnight. Oil prices and all the base metals took a bit of a beating and similarly with the gold price which was off quite substantially." Mr Wacher said positive retail sales data in the United States helped to buoy stocks on Wall Street."The US retail sales result was pretty strong so that's probably given a bit of impetus to the market as a whole over there. "It started much lower on the day and ended up around 40 points on the close...

Thomson Financial Europe AM at a glance share guide: Stocks, oil mixed

STOCKS: Wall Street retreated Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke predicted a "sluggish" economy until later in the year and more mortgage-related losses at banks. Bernanke said the housing and credit crises have weighed on the economy and curbed hiring. Though the Labor Department Thursday said the number of workers filing unemployment claims fell 9,000 to 348,000 last week, Wall Street remained worried that businesses are becoming cautious about hiring and that unemployment will compound the debt problems that have been slamming the markets and the greater economy after the January jobs report that showed the first net jobs loss in more than four years. In addition, the Commerce Department reported Thursday that the trade deficit narrowed in 2007, dropping to 711.6 bln usd, after five years of record expansion.

Rebate checks might prove skeptics wrong

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Hope for the riot victims of Gujarat

Otherwise, no matter how many times President Bush travels to the region, there is no reason to believe that 2008 will offer anything other than the macabre pattern of years past.

Hussein Agha, a senior associate member of St. Antony's College, Oxford University, has been involved in Israeli-Palestinian affairs for four decades. Robert Malley is Middle East program director at the International Crisis Group and was special assistant to the president for Arab-Israeli affairs from 1998 to 2001.

By arrangement with LA Times-Washington Post .

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News in brief

A judge in Chicago has declared the millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett legally dead, five months after his plane disappeared over the Nevada desert. Fossett vanished in September after taking off in a light plane; a long search produced no trace of him. A judge heard testimony yesterday from Fossett's wife, Peggy, and a family friend as well as a search-and-rescue expert before deciding there was sufficient evidence to declare him dead. Attorneys representing Fossett's estate had filed a petition to have him declared legally dead so his assets could be distributed according to his will.Associated Press in Chicago

Politicians in Japan have proposed the construction of an 80-mile "peace tunnel" to South Korea that would boost trade and symbolise the warming of ties between the former enemies.

Citi buys 14.5 pc of Globe Capital for Rs 168 cr

Citi Venture Capital International (CVCI), the private equity arm of Citigroup, has picked up around 14.5 per cent in the Delh-based Globe Capital for Rs 168 crore. At this price the company is being valued at over Rs 1,000 crore.

One of the leading clearing members in the futures and options (F&O) segment, the company plans to expand overseas and has already established operations in Dubai through a subsidiary and plans to acquire ICON Capital, a member of the London Stock Exchange.