India, Sept. 3 -- Both methods have real merit. For anyone investing alongside a full-time career, the question is which of the two can be learnt and used with the hours they actually have.

Two ways of deciding what to buy have been arguing with each other for as long as markets have existed. Fundamental analysis studies the business itself: What it earns, what it owes, how good the management is, how strong its position is against the competition, and what all of that says the company is worth. Technical analysis studies the price chart: how the stock has actually been traded, and what the price and the volume behind it say about what market participants are doing with it.

The argument between them is usually about accuracy. Which meth...