Stock Brokers and Investment Analysis

Introduction
Stock exchanges to some extent play an important role as indicators, reflecting the performance of the country’s economic state of health. Stock market is a place where securities are bought and sold. It is exposed to a high degree of volatility, prices fluctuate within minutes and are determined by the demand and supply of stocks at a given time. Stock brokers are the ones who buys and sells securities on behalf of individuals and institutions for some commission.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is the authorized body which regulates the operations of stock exchanges, banks and other financial institutions. The past performances in the capital markets specially the securities scam by Harshad Mehta has led to tightening of the operations by SEBI. In addition the international trading and investment exposure has made it imperative to better operational efficiancy. With the view to improve, discipline and bring greater transparency in this sector, constant efforts are being made and to a certain extent improvements have been made.

As the condition of capital markets are constantly improving, it has started drawing attention of lot more people than before. On the career related aspects, professionals have opportunities to choose from for a wide range of jobs available in a number of organisations in this sector and one can expect to have good times ahead of him.

Nature of Work
In India capital markets are experiencing radical reformation. The stricter regulatory framework alongwith introduction of information and technology has added more professionalism to the industry. The most common areas of work in the capital markets, one can look forward to include the following.

Stock Brokers
Given the present complex situation of our capital markets, stock brokers have to face challenging tasks. The specialized knowledge and professional acumen required has made the job of brokers highly skillful. The work of stock brokers depends upon the kind operations they engage themselves into. Some of the brokers like to practice with individual clients while others work for institutions. Brokers who work for institutional investors are often called securities traders. Many prefer to work as dealers, advisors and securities analysts. Security analysts are those who advise companies on floatations of shares as they are expected to have sound knowledge of capital markets. Brokers also work in the financial sector with banks, mutual funds, consultancies, insurance companies, pension funds and financial institutions etc.

Investment Analysis
Investments in todays capital markets is not something which can always fructify, based on mere guesses. It requires thorough scientific research and analysis to make something out of it. Investment analysts are those who carry out the very same job and help fund managers manage their investments. They can work as stock broking analysts or as institutional analysts.