Sugar could be the next commodity to soar in price, says Profit Hunter’s Manraaj Singh.

The price of sugar has risen 37% in the last year, and this was with a huge surplus. Next year, droughts in India and rains in Brazil — the world’s two biggest sugar producers — could create a shortage in the market.

Manraaj says these supply shocks have not yet been priced into the market, meaning sugar could be at the start of a huge rally…

Ajay Banga, Citigroup Inc.’s (C) Asia-Pacific chief, said yesterday that his company would not sell its stake in India’s Housing Development Finance Corp. (HDFC), but did not comment on reports that the largest U.S. bank is about to sell its back-office unit to Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS). “India is a very critical growth market for Citi,” Banga told India’s Mint in an interview published yesterday. “We have been retaining profits locally and investing in India. We have also moved capital to India where necessary.”

With sky-high growth potential, China and India are the two markets no investor can afford to miss out on. But that doesn’t mean they’re impervious to market turbulence, and in times of trouble, India is the more reliable investment.

Yesterday, Smart Commodities UK editor Garry White gave readers five reasons to invest in Russia, even as it is engaged in a war with Georgia.

However, the markets tell a different story. Two benchmark Russian share indexes – the RTS index and the MICEX index – hit their lowest levels in nearly two years yesterday.

John Stepek in Money Morning UK is bearish on Russia. He says the country is a basket case built mainly on petrodollars. This leaves it particularly vulnerable to a long-term correction in crude oil prices…

India and China both have sky-high growth potential. But India holds an edge over China as an investment play, says Martin Hutchinson in Money Morning: It’s problems are out in the open whereas China’s are not.

Martin says the Chinese government is simply hiding economic difficulties under the carpet until the end of the Olympic Games – and this creates serious problems for investors.

India is suffering from excessive inflation and an out-of-balance budget. But it is under no illusions about the problems it faces. Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t, says Martin…

The title of this column is inspired by a brilliant Jack Nicholson movie called ‘One flew over the cuckoo’s nest’. Friday saw the opening ceremony of the Olympics at the Birds Nest stadium in Beijing, and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao must have been proud of its spectacular success. The Chinese political leaders who were determined to showcase their country’s success and worked towards that nationalistic goal must now be flying with pride.

It would be safe to say that the stock markets are in a Brownian motion when observed on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. They move in any direction.

News Corp. (NWS), the media giant owned by Rupert Murdoch, will strengthen its presence in India with the creation of six regional television channels.Murdoch has in the past warned that an advertising slowdown in the newspaper and television industries would have a decidedly negative impact on U.S. media businesses. At the same time, however, India’s entertainment market is just beginning to realize its potential.

About 17 million viewers joined India’s burgeoning television market in the first half of 2008. Television advertising responded to the broader audience, growing 26% in the first six months of the year.

The media and entertainment market in India is expected to grow by 18.5% by 2012, according to consultancy firm PwC. That’s the fastest among the BRIC countries…

Global investors need to “hit the BRICs” – literally. Back in 2003, the Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), eager to push its clients towards global investing – especially in the emerging markets – invented the acronym “BRIC” (Brazil, Russia, India and China) to represent the four emerging markets it believed were destined to become dominant economies in the years to come.

India’s stock market is down 23 percent this year. But it’s still one of the world’s great long-term growth plays, says Martin Hutchinson in part two of Money Morning’s special report on BRIC economies.

India is suffering high inflation, its growth is slowing and there are signs that a credit crunch is about to hit. But this can work to the advantage of investors. Without these problems, India’s stock market would be trading at 40 times earnings – and not 18 times earnings, as it is now.

Martin says that buy buying into India now, investors are likely getting in on the ground floor of a major long-term bull market.