Foreign investors become net buyers in Indian stocks in February

NEW DELHI: Foreign portfolio investors who had aggressively sold Indian stocks and turned net sellers in the Indian equity market in January 2024, now again became net buyers in February. The latest data available from the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) showed that the FPIs bought stocks worth Rs 2,928 crore so far in February, after selling equities worth Rs 24,734 crore in January.

"The resilience of the market is preventing the FPIs from selling aggressively despite attractive bond yields in the US," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, at Geojit Financial Services, recently.

The foreign portfolio sold aggressively in January after making a beeline to accumulate domestic stocks during the prior two months--November and December. In December, they accumulated stocks worth Rs 66,135 crore. In November, the FPI inflow was Rs 9,001 crore, NSDL data showed. To put it into context, the entire year saw an inflow of about Rs 171,107 crore, and notably, over one-third of it came in December.

The strong inflow of funds from foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) had then supported the benchmark stock indices to march towards all-time highs. Before November, FPI participation in Indian stocks was lukewarm, and they had turned net sellers.

They sold Rs 14,768 crore and Rs 24,548 crore, in September and October, respectively. Before that, FPIs bought Indian stocks worth Rs 7,936 crore, Rs 11,631 crore, Rs 43,838 crore, Rs 47,148 crore, Rs 46,618 crore, and Rs 12,262 crore in March, April, May, June, July, and August respectively, data showed.