in monsoons will surely help in bringing down food inflation we are positive on debt at the shorter end of yield curve due to improving liquidity which will suppress yields when do you expect an interest rate cut and what strategy would you advise for debt schemes with the onset of good monsoons there is a possibility of another rate cut in this calendar the yield curve in the last few months have become steeper with the shorter end softening more than the longer end over the longterm it all depends on how far the rbi and the government are able to enhance productivity and reduce fiscal deficit looking at the yield curve a space of 3 to 5 years seems to be the sweet spot for a debt portfolio as we get closer to the end of the rate cut cycle it would make sense not to increase duration and continue to focus on shortermedium end of yield curve we would suggest focusing on medium term funds and shortterm funds rather than taking aggressive credit risk or duration risk gold and silver prices are moving up would you advise investors to accumulate these in their portfolios gold and silver have seen a sharp upswing in the last six months driven by global uncertainties this is likely to continue till the global situation abates most likely in the next two to four quarters till then we will continue to see buying interest on account of flight to safety tactically looking at the silver to gold ratio silver is probably better placed we have always maintained that such commodities should be allocated in portfolios purely as a hedge and not as an investment asset class remember that commodity prices are driven by supplydemand and do not produce intrinsic value like equity one could take advantage of this shortmedium term opportunity in gold price movement by participating in shortterm gold linked structures which offer principal protection and provide you with upside participation in case prices do go up allocating large chunks of your investment portfolio to gold or silver may not be good idea where will crude prices settle prices can rise more from current levels as the market is gradually moving towards its demandsupply balance however we can assume that 55 would be the ceiling of oil prices for wti crude the oil market is entering a range with 37 a barrel as floor and 55 a barrel as a ceiling in the near term