New Delhi, April 27 -- Last week, I wrote that the markets would possibly witness a hopium-based rally, but it was doubtful that it would sustain. That hypothesis, based on statistical signals sent out by the markets, was proven right. The initial upthrust failed to imbibe follow-up buying, and the markets slipped in the latter half of the week. The geopolitical arena was the usual see-saw of hope and despair. The stock market is slowly getting immune to the war news and focusing on routine indicators.

Returning to routine indicators, I noticed the initial optimism in the stock market triggered a hopium-based feel-good factor last week. This is because leveraged exposure (buying stocks with borrowed money) in MTF (margin-funded trading) ...