Here’s How Much Foreign Investors Bought & Sold in February: NSDL Data

By Malvika Gurung

Investing.com — With the correction going on in technology stocks, mirroring a similar trend in the US markets, fortnightly data from the central securities depository NSDL stated that some sectors witnessed bullish sentiments from foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), which included the pharmaceuticals, textiles and metals & mining businesses.

The development comes despite the three businesses witnessing net sellings of about Rs 35,160 crore in the second half of January 2022 and about Rs 12,873 crore in the first half of February.

Meanwhile, in the software and services sectors (IT sector), foreign outflows from Jan 16-31, 2022 stood at Rs 12,928 crore and the sellings only intensified in the first half of February to Rs 5,626 crore.

In the banking sector, FPIs had withdrawn equity stocks worth Rs 2,701 crore in the second half of January, only to re-invest Rs 2,760 crore in the banking stocks from Feb 1-15.

NSDL’s data suggested that housing finance companies, NBFCs, holding companies, and asset management companies were major buyers of banking stocks in the first half of Feb.

In the insurance sector, foreign sellings stood at Rs 1,496 crore in H1 Feb, followed by Rs 805 crore in H2 Jan, and in the hotels and household sectors, the sellings in H1 Feb stood at a cumulative figure of Rs 1,760 crore.

In the oil and gas sector too, selling from FPIs intensified in the Feb 1-15 period at Rs 2,091 crore, compared to Rs 1,736 crore in the second half period of January.

In total, the foreign investors’ portfolio of domestic equities was worth Rs 47.28 lakh crore as of Feb 15, 2022, compared to Rs Rs 47.9 lakh crore on Jan 31.