FPIs reduce pace of selling in Indian equities in two weeks of November

The selling spree by FPIs in Indian equities continued to decelerate in the second week of November. They sold equities worth $287.6 million (Rs2,426 .6 crore) in the week ended November 15 compared with the selling of $2,374.6 million (Rs19,993.7 crore) in the prior week. Thus, in the first fortnight of November, FPIs sold equities worth $2662.2 million (Rs22,420.3 crore). This was one-third compared with the $7,898.3 million worth of selling seen in the first fortnight of the previous month. FPIs had sold a record $11,195.4 million worth of equities in the whole of October.

The FPI flow even turned positive briefly on November 13 when they invested net $336.9 after a gap since October 22 when they had pumped $1,273.8 million in Indian equities.

In addition, the foreign investors increased net inflow in the Indian primary market to $1,177.5 million at the end of the first two weeks of November compared with $477.6 million of investment in the comparable period of the previous month. The primary market includes investments through initial public offerings (IPO) and qualified institutional buying (QIB).

Even after excluding the primary market inflows, the FPI selling in the secondary equity market seems to have moderated. In the first fortnight of November, they sold equities worth $3,839.7 million, which was more than half of $8,375.9 million sold in the corresponding period of October.

In 2024 so far, FPIs have been net sellers of equity worth $1,803.4 million (Rs15,828 crore), which includes an inflow of $11,453 million in the primary market and an outflow of $13,256.3 million in the secondary market.

Amid FPI selling, domestic funds continued to park money in the equity market. In the seven trading sessions to November 11, they invested net Rs10,210.5 crore compared with R 48,531 crore in the first seven sessions of October. For the whole of October, they had invested a record net Rs90,771 crore.