Institutional Ownership In Indian Stocks At Record High

Indian markets are becoming more institutionalised, led by domestic investors, Morgan Stanley said in an Indian equity strategy report, citing ownership data to confirm the trend.

All three institutional classes – foreign portfolio investors, domestic mutual funds and domestic institutional investors – bought Indian equities, taking their ownership to a record high or at least a multi-year high in the June-ended quarter, the global brokerage said.

Together, their ownership rose to an all-time high of 40.7 percent at the end of June, according to the report.

The brokerage noted that the ownership of FPIs in the Indian equities rose to 27.5 percent, surpassing the previous high of 27.3 percent in September last year. The total value of FPI assets stood at $395 billion, it added.

Domestic mutual funds increased their holdings for the twelfth straight quarter by 44 basis points to 5.7 percent. Domestic institutions too saw their ownership rise marginally by 8 basis points to 7.6 percent during the quarter.

Preferred Sectors

Consumer staples, healthcare and energy were the three sectors where institutions added most positions during the quarter.

Overall institutional overweight in consumer staples is the highest since September 2013, and the underweight in materials is the highest since June 2010, the brokerage added.