FPIs invest Rs 1,600 cr in equities in 1st week of June

After pulling out hefty funds from the stock markets in May, overseas investors have turned net buyers in the first week of the month and pumped in over Rs 1,600 crore.

In comparison, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) sold debt securities worth Rs 1,883 crore during the period.

According to data available with depositories, FPIs have made gross equity purchases worth Rs 42,943 crore so far this month and have sold shares valued Rs 41,287 crore -- a net inflow of Rs 1,656 crore.

Prior to that, FPIs saw a net outflow of over Rs 5,700 crore from equities, while the same for the debt markets was at Rs 8,500 crore.

"During June 3-4, FPIs sold shares worth Rs 1,400 crore which was in continuation to the outflows that are being happening for the past two months that started after the Minimum Alternative Tax (MAT) issue came to light and the relative performance of other markets like China surpassed India.

"However as the markets have corrected 10 per cent from the highs, the outflows have ebbed as the long term India story remain intact," ICICI Securities Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer Piyush Garg said.

Taking into account latest inflows, FPIs have poured in Rs 44,000 crore (USD 7.1 billion) in the equities since January.

Month-on-month, the combined fund inflows -- equities as well as debt -- are on a decline as FPI investments in January this year stood at Rs 33,688 crore, before dropping to Rs 24,564 crore in February, Rs 20,723 crore in March and Rs 15,266 crore in April and finally net outlfows of over Rs 14,000 crore in May.

Now, this month has started on a positive note and witnessed a net inflow in the first week.