Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) have bought Indian equities worth over $4 billion since February 26, 2010. In 2009, FIIs shopped for equities worth over $17 billion with the bulk of the money coming in after the middle of May when the results of the general elections were announced.
However, the Indian markets snapped their four-day winning streak on Tuesday as some profit booking was seen. The 30-share Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) lost 0.68% or 121 points to end the day at 17,590.17. The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was down 0.76% to close the day at 5,262.45.
Despite the markets closing in red, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued to remain on the buying side for 21 consecutive trading sessions, starting February 26, 2010, the day the Budget was announced. According to the provisional figures furnished by the BSE, FIIs bought stocks worth over Rs 570 crore on Tuesday taking their total tally to over $4.18 billion since the Budget.
Meanwhile, MSCI Asia, which has been one of the best performing indices in recent months, looks set to gain further with China?s Shanghai SE Composite ending at its two-month high on Tuesday. Japan?s Nikkei 225 too closed at an 18-month high. The Nikkei 225 gained 1.01% to close at 11,097.14, while the Shanghai SE Composite ended flat at 3,128.47. All the Asian markets traded in the green as the sentiment was boosted by the news that US consumer spending rose for a fifth consecutive month in February by 0.3 %. While the Hang Seng was up by 0.65% to 21,374.79, South Korea?s Kospi closed at 1,700.19, a gain of 0.48%.
Ashu Madan, president-equity broking, Religare Securities, said, ?With stable support from the global markets, domestic indices are not likely to face any problems. Also, with valuations not too high, we are likely to attract more inflows from FIIs in the coming days.? Dealers said IT stocks saw some selling on worries that appreciating rupee might hurt margins. The NSE?s cash segment reported the turnover of over Rs 13,200 crore, up by 4.8% over the previous session.