Is the much awaited correction an opportunity to invest ?

Better than expected GDP numbers from US lifted sentiments across the globe today. Our opening too was fairly positive and there was a good upsurge in the bourses till noon. However institutional selling pulled the markets down and the indices ended in the red again today. Clearly the market has changed from a buy on dips to sell on rise one. Traders are advised to trade with a negative bias. Investors should use the present downturn to buy quality stocks with a six to nine months holding period in mind. Investing may be phased out over the next four to five weeks as this consolidation phase is likely to last for sometime and there is a fairly high probability of markets seeking lower levels before resuming a fresh uptrend. IT, Oil and Gas exploration, Metals and FMCG are the sectors where investors are likely to find the best stock ideas.While using this correction to invest seems to be a good idea, one must remember that we are living in a very volatile financial world where sentiments and future forecasts change rapidly. Hence investors would do well to track international economic scenario and risk appetite for equities amongst the global institutional community. Any major slide in the global business outlook will result in money moving back to US and get invested in safe instruments. This will cause the dollar to strengthen and all emerging markets including India would witness a reversal of FII inflows and a much steeper and longer correction then anticipated.