FPIs sold for 11 consecutive days to the tune of Rs 14,300 cr

FPIs have turned sustained sellers in the Indian market and sold for 11 consecutive days taking the cumulative selling to Rs 14,300 crore, says V.K. Vijayakumar, the Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

"And, the money taken out is being invested in the underperformers of last year like China and Europe, which are doing well now. Clearly, FII money is chasing lower valuations by selling in overvalued markets like India," he added.

This is the important trend in near term FPI activity. If this trend continues it might weaken the Indian market further. However, the selling will not be indiscriminate.

In December 2022, FPIs bought in capital goods, FMCG and financial services. Selling was mainly in IT.

FIIs will sell stocks in which they are sitting on profits, like the banking segment. And this segment continues to be strong. Last year, too, selling by FIIs in banks turned out to be opportunities for domestic investors. Globally, the phenomenon of good economic news becoming bad news for markets might continue in the near term. The latest data from the US show increasing job creation and declining jobless claims, he added.

Share of Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) (which includes domestic Mutual Funds, Insurance Companies, Banks, Financial Institutions, Pension Funds etc. as a whole) along with retail and High Net-worth Individual (HNI) investors reached an all time high of 24.03 per cent as on September 30, 2022 from 23.54 per cent as on June 30, 2022, on the back of net inflows from DIIs of Rs 17,597 crore during the quarter, as per Primeinfobase, an initiative of Prime Database Group.

Meanwhile, despite net inflows from Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) of Rs 48,570 crore during the quarter, FPI share declined further to a 10-year low of 19.03 per cent as on September 30, 2022, down by 17 bps from 19.20 per cent as on June 30, 2022.