FPIs Buy Finance, Capital Goods Stocks In The First Half Of May; Sell FMCG, Realty

Foreign portfolio investors in the first two weeks of May have bought the shares of financial services, capital goods and oil and gas stocks the most. This comes at a time when the benchmark indices have continued to be in the green for the second consecutive month.

Foreign investors bought finance stocks worth $552 million, followed by capital goods stocks worth $261 million. Between April 16 and April 30, the FPIs bought financial stocks worth $2,694 million; this is the highest buying for the sector this year. Similarly, capital goods worth $346 were bought in the last two weeks of April, the highest this year.

Oil and gas stocks ($249 million), services shares ($206 million) and automobiles ($188 million) shares were the other sectors where FPIs bought big.

Consumer services and telecom also saw inflows of more than $231 million and $121 million. Between May 1 and May 15, total FPI inflow into Indian equities was $1,504 million.

Meanwhile, fast-moving consumer goods and realty bore the brunt of the FPIs selling, with an outflow of $124 million and $98 million, respectively. Power ($84 million), consumer durables ($73 million) and healthcare ($71 million) were the other sectors where FPIs sold shares.

However, through this calendar year, FPIs have bought shares of telecommunications the most, with an inflow of $1,958 million. Followed by financial services with an inflow of $711 million and chemicals with $348 million.

Information technology has been under stress throughout the year with outflows worth $3,370 million. FMCG saw an outflow of $1,844 million, and automobiles and auto components saw an outflow of $1,640 million so far this year.

In total, so far this year, FPIs have been sellers of Indian equities with a total outflow of $11,356 million.