Healthcare Shares See Largest FPI Outflows In Over Six Years

Foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth $690 million in the healthcare sector in September, marking the highest monthly outflow since June 2019, when they offloaded shares worth $724 million, according to data from National Securities Depository Ltd.

That came as the BSE Healthcare index, which tracks 119 stocks across hospitals, drugmakers and healthcare equipment manufacturers, fell 1.3% last month. Shree Gamesh Remedies Ltd. dropped 12.5%, while Eris Lifesciences and Shilpa Medicare declined 11.7% and 10.9%, respectively.

FPIs were net sellers for the third consecutive month, offloading $2.7 billion in Indian equities in September. Year-to-date, offshore investors have sold $17.5 billion worth of Indian shares.

The healthcare sector was followed by information technology, where FPIs sold $682 million. IT shares faced fresh pressure after the US announced an H-1B visa fee increase. The move is expected to affect companies including TCS, one of the largest visa recipients.

Other sectors seeing FPI outflows included fast-moving consumer goods, consumer durables and consumer services, with selloff totaling $474 million, $409 million and $381 million, respectively.

On the inflow side, the automobile and auto components sector received $411 million. Capital goods and metals & mining attracted $340 million and $208 million, respectively.

To be sure, FPI data for individual stocks was not available on NSDL. However, based on bulk and block deal data from BSE, the following stocks saw FPI activity in September:

Sept. 1

• Mobikwik Systems: Abu Dhabi Investment Authority sold 16.44 lakh shares (2.10%) at Rs 238.45 each.

• Blackbuck (Zinka Logistics): GSAM Holdings LLC sold 49.09 lakh shares (2.74%) at Rs 600.32 each.

Sept. 8

• Prime Focus: Craft Emerging Market Fund bought 1.2 crore shares (3.87%) at Rs 156.55 each.

• Prataap Snacks: Altitude Investment Fund sold 3.37 lakh shares at Rs 1,029.59 each.

Sept. 10

• Healthcare Global: Aceso Company Pte sold 79.4 lakh shares at Rs 695 each.

• Kotak Mahindra Bank: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation sold 3.2 crore shares (1.62%) at Rs 1,940.80 each.

Sept. 15

• Laxmi Dental: Abu Dhabi Investment Authority sold 5.58 lakh shares (1.02%) at Rs 303.10 each.

Sept. 19

• Fortis Healthcare: Goldman Sachs bought 2.2 lakh shares at Rs 953.95 each.

• Max Financial Services: Goldman Sachs bought 1.52 lakh shares at Rs 1,561.70 each.

• Dynamatic Technologies: Samena Special Situations sold 62,600 shares at Rs 7,302.72 each.

Sept. 21

• Aarti Pharmlabs: BNP Paribas Financial Markets sold 4.59 lakh shares (0.5%) at Rs 929 each.

• Force Motors: BNP Paribas Financial Markets sold 0.65 lakh shares (0.49%) at Rs 18,581.10 each.

Sept. 25

• Polycab: JPMorgan Fund ICVC bought 14.84 lakh shares (2.67%) and Morgan Stanley Asia Singapore bought 3.65 lakh shares (0.66%) at Rs 7,458 each.

Sept. 29

• Hero MotoCorp: BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought 19.52 lakh shares (0.98%) at Rs 5,302.91 each.

• Max Healthcare: BNP Paribas Financial Markets sold 79.38 lakh shares (1.07%) at Rs 1,111.01 each.

• IndusInd Bank: BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought 1.07 crore shares (1.37%) at Rs 723.60 each.