Sectors Foreign Investors Bought And Sold In Second Half Of March

Foreign investors snapped two-month selling streak to turn net buyers of Indian equities in March.

Overseas institutional investors offloaded $564 million or Rs 4,640 crore worth of stocks in the second half of March, but still net bought equities worth Rs 7,936 crore during the month, according to the data from National Securities Depository Ltd.

The March inflow was aided by $1.87 billion or Rs 15,446 crore of investment by GQG partners in the Adani Group stocks, a report by Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd. said.

It came after a selloff of Rs 28,852 crore in January and Rs 5,294 crore in February. Foreign institutions have offloaded Indian stocks worth Rs 20,625 crore so far this year.

"The near-term outlook for FPI looks much more positive now. Even though Indian valuation continues to be relatively high, the recent market correction has made valuations a bit more reasonable than earlier," said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist, Geojit Financial Services Ltd.

The fourth-quarter results season, starting April 14, will influence FPI inflows, according to Vijayakumar. More money is likely to flow into financials, capital goods and autos and auto components.

"FPIs have been consistent buyers in capital goods and alternating between buying and selling in financial services," he said. "FPIs turning buyers in banking will help banking stocks scale higher levels, assisted by good Q4 results."

The sector saw the largest outflow of $550 million or Rs 4,515.8 crore, after witnessing an outflow of $279 million or Rs 2,295 crore, in the first half of March.

Financial Services saw the second largest outflow of $407 million or Rs 3,346 crore in the last fortnight of March against an inflow of $338 million, or Rs 2,790 crore, in the first half of the month.

During this period, the Nifty Bank rose by 3.99%.

Software and services saw the third largest outflow at $381 million or Rs 3,133 crore in the second half of March, after witnessing an outflow of $458 million or Rs 3,777 crore in the first half of the month.

During this period, Nifty IT decreased by 0.06%, according to Bloomberg.

The capital goods sector saw the largest and consecutive inflow in the second half of March at $347 million or Rs 2,848 crore in the second half of the month. The sector had recorded net investment of $228 million or Rs 1,871.4 crore in the first half.

The sector saw an inflow for the second straight fortnight at $230 million or Rs 1,887.8 crore. Foreign investors had pumped in $347 million or Rs 2,848.1 crore into in the first half of March.

FMCG witnessed an inflow of $134 million or Rs 1,099.8 crore in the second half of March against a net investment of $80 million or Rs 656.6 crore in the first half.