FII holding in BSE 500 stocks highest in five years

Foreign investors have raised their shareholding in BSE 500 stocks to the highest level in the last five years during the quarter ended March 31.

Foreign institutional investors, or FIIs, have raised their shareholding in the BSE 500 companies that make up nearly 93% of the total market capitalisation on BSE and all 20 major industries of the economy.

According to the quarterly analysis on BSE 500 companies shareholdings for the quarter ended March - 2013 by Emkay Research, FIIs holding in BSE500 companies rose to 22.2%, the highest in at least 21 quarters during quarter ended March 13.

FIIs bought shares worth $10.2 billion whereas mutual fund and bank finance and insurance (BFI) were sellers to the tune of $1.4 billion and $5 billion respectively during the quarter ended March 2013.

A sector-wise analysis showed that power, paper, hotels and restaurants witnessed major buying during the January-March period.

The survey further noted that mutual funds were net sellers in sectors like media and entertainment, transportation, sugar, construction and pharma, while bank finance and insurance sold in logistics, pharmaceuticals, banks and financial services, IT, textiles and automobiles.

FIIs, the key driver of Indian markets, have poured in over Rs 68,000 crore ($12.7 billion) since the beginning of 2013.