FIIs sell shares worth $336.74 mn last week

Foreign institutional investors were on a selling spree last week and offloaded shares worth over $336.74 million (about Rs 1,492.20 crore) as the stock markets were rattled by global economic worries.

FIIs were on a panic selling mode as fears of possible recession in the US and acute debt problems in the euro zone gripped investors world over and pumped out $336.74 million from the equity market in the first week of this month, according to data available with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Significantly, during the same period (August 1-5) the BSE Sensex declined by nearly 5% to end the week at 17,305.87 points.

On Friday, when the BSE Sensex plunged more than 700 points before recovering partially with investors selling across the board, FIIs pressed the sell button both in equity as well as the debt market.

Besides, out of the five trading sessions during the week, FIIs were net sellers in four of them. FIIs were net sellers all throughout the week barring Tuesday, when they were net buyers, but only by a modest $35.69 million.

Ashika Stock Brokers Research Head Paras Bothra said: "Whenever there are such kind of global uncertainties, there is risk aversion...Whenever there is risk aversion foreign funds press the sell button".

After the last week's outflow, total investment of FIIs in stock markets now stands at Rs 9,208.30 crore or $2,102 million so far this year, according to the Sebi data.