New Delhi, Jan. 25 -- Ticker is a weekly newsletter by Vijay L Bhambwani. Subscribe to Mint's newsletters to get them directly in your email inbox.

Dear reader,

Happy Republic Day!

Last week, I wrote that the near-term market outlook would be determined by the banking and financial sector stocks. That was due to the 36.56% weightage given to banking and financial stocks in the broad-based Nifty 50. Sure enough, the Bank Nifty dragged the markets lower. Read last week's piece here. In the prior week's article, I had advocated prioritising capital preservation over day trading profits. Markets validated that viewpoint.

The near future is characterised by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA). Geopolitics, economics, ...