Hi,
The first advice I'd like to give all of you is do not invest even a rupee in the market if you're not ready to lose that money.
Regardless of the fact that this is probably the worst time for you all to get into the market, remember the market can take away all you have.
Having said that, there are 2 ways of playing the 'Stock Market'. There is long term investing, going from a year to a few years and secondly there is 'trading', which involves taking short calls on the market.
A long term investor sees the fundamentals of the company.
a) The management
b) The topline/sales and the order book ensuring future sales
c) The bottom line/net profit and the profit earning capacity along with profit margin in the future
d) Dividend declarations and stock split / bonus history
A short term investor, is perhaps not the correct term to describe the other form of investing. Today, taking a position on the market via futures and options are as rampant as Investing long term.
This form of investing, is as safe or as risky as you want it to be. I repeat, as safe/risky as YOU want it to be.
We have 3 ways of getting the right information. Through the TV, i.e., CNBC TV18 / Times NOW / Bloomberg,(as Rajesh says) or via the internet sites or via books such as Capital Market. To be a good reader of the market, you must take information from ALL 3 media. Thereafter, sift through the plethora of data and take heed of the most important amongst them.