The Indian markets are witnessing a change of guard as domestic players snatch control from foreign institutional investors.
Stock exchange data indicate that FII activity has slowed in the Indian markets, while retail clients and high networth individuals (HNIs) have stepped up their buying significantly on local bourses. Provisional figures available with the stock exchanges for November show FIIs have been net sellers of equity worth Rs 5,012.43 crore to date.
During the month, retail clients and HNIs have been net buyers to the tune of Rs 460.52 crore. So were domestic institutional investors at Rs 3,457.05 crore and proprietary trades?undertaken by brokers on their own?have been worth Rs 17 crore.
Moreover, the daily average gross buying and selling by the retail and HNI investors have surged more than the daily average purchases and sales made by FIIs. Average gross buy-sell by retail and HNI investors were in a range of Rs 5,050 crore to Rs 5,120 crore, whereas the average daily gross buy-sell by FIIs has come down to between Rs 3,800 crore and Rs 4,220 crore since November 1.
Greater participation by the retail and HNI segments has also impacted the small- and mid-cap indices that are surging at a time when the frontline counters have remained subdued.
Since November 1, the BSE small-cap index has surged 5.95% and the mid-cap by 4.63%, clearly outperforming the Sensex that has had a marginal loss of 0.70% until now. Also, both these indices have touched life-time highs during the period.