FIIs infuse $6 bn in stocks in Oct-Dec quarter

Nearly a 10-fold jump from the inflows of the previous, July-September, quarter

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers on Dalal Street, pumping in $6 billion during the quarter ended December on expectations of change in government in the upcoming general elections, says a Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA-ML) report.

It was a nearly 10-fold jump from the inflows of the previous, July-September, quarter.

"During December quarter, FIIs remained positive on Indian markets on expectations of change of government in the upcoming general elections," the report noted.

This was the fifth consecutive quarter when the Indian markets have seen positive flows from FIIs.

"Close to $6 billion was pumped in the Indian equity markets by FIIs in the October-December quarter as compared to $700 million inflow in the previous quarter," the report noted.

On the other hand, LIC and domestic mutual funds were net sellers of equities during the quarter under review.

FIIs were bullish on sectors like software, financial, utilities, industrial, auto and energy among others.

Software saw the highest net buying by FIIs with buying into Tech Mahindra worth $451 million followed by Infosys ($372 million), HCL Tech ($257 million) and Wipro ($246 million).

"Software is largest underweight sector for the FIIs. Despite heavy buying, relative out performance of IT sector & addition of Tech Mahindra resulted in an increase in its underweight," the report noted.

Currently, FII holding in Sensex companies is at 8-year high. This is mainly due to consistent buying in index stocks especially, consumers, pharma and private banks.