The selling of shares by the Foreign institutional investors has done little to dampen the party on Dalal Street as the Nifty hits record high of 22,150.75 on Monday.
Foreign institutional investors have net sold over USD 3.5 billion worth of shares so far in 2024.
Strong retail inflows through the mutual fund route have neutralised much of the selling. Domestic institutions have net bought a little over Rs 43,000 crore worth of shares this year so far.
In January, investors poured a record Rs 18,838 crore into mutual funds through the systematic investment planning (SIP) route. A good part of the money has flowed into schemes that invest in mid and small cap stocks.
High networth individuals too continue to be bullish in their outlook on the market in the near term, despite growing concerns that share prices have become expensive.
Also, the third quarter earnings have been a mixed bag, though negative surprises got more attention than the companies that met market expectations.
India’s weightage in Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Emerging Market index has crept up to around 18 per cent and is just second to China’s, whose weightage has now shrunk to around 25 per cent.
A significant reason why market observers feel FIIs will be compelled to invest in Indian equities is that global investors are wary of investing in Chinese equities even though valuations are looking attractive after a prolonged underperformance.
It is worth highlighting that last year, foreign funds stepped up their purchases towards the end as the market continued to rally, and finished as net buyers of over USD 19 billion worth of Indian equity.