Eureka Correspondence

Market sentiment

What does the measurement "market sentiment" mean?

Allan

Editor's response: Thanks for your letter. Market sentiment refers to the overall attitude of investors to a stock or a market – there's a useful definition available on Investopedia here. If market sentiment is listed as a positive figure, that means more brokers recommend buying a stock than selling. Negative figures show more brokers recommend selling, while a measurement of 0 means even amounts of brokers recommend buying and selling.

Medibank Private IPO

I refrained from submitting my application for Medibank on October 28 as I was told that my money would be required with the application and intended to wait until November 13. However, in view of the 8x oversubscription from institutional investors, what pearls of wisdom do you now have for private investors?

Tony

Editor's response: Thanks for your letter. Alan Kohler has shared his thoughts about this issue in his most weekend briefing here.

Ridley

Do you mean there will be demand from Asia for Ridley products or that there will be demand for Asian agricultural products (Ridley rides the agri boom, October 27)?

Gerda

Simon Dumaresq's response: Thanks for your letter. The article says there will be growing demand from Asia. Ridley exports about 40% of its products to Asia.