Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) reversed their Monday selling trend, turning net buyers in Indian equities on Tuesday with ₹1,651.53 crore in purchases on a provisional basis, according to exchange data. This marked a significant shift from Monday when FIIs were net sellers of ₹2,535.10 crore. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) also maintained their buying momentum, recording ₹2,579.31 crore in net purchases, though their buying was lower than Monday's ₹5,101.46 crore. The latest fund flow data showed that FIIs bought equities worth ₹13,543.30 crore and sold ₹11,891.77 crore on Tuesday, resulting in net buying of ₹1,651.53 crore. DIIs, meanwhile, bought equities worth ₹15,566.07 crore and sold ₹12,986.76 crore, taking their net buying to ₹2,579.31 crore.
On Tuesday, FIIs had reversed their buying trend after purchasing ₹508.12 crore on Friday, while DIIs had stepped up their activity with net purchases of ₹5,101.46 crore compared with ₹356.40 crore on Friday. The contrasting patterns between FIIs and DIIs showed that while foreign investors turned net buyers, domestic institutional investors maintained their higher buying levels from the previous session. This divergence in institutional behavior reflects different market perceptions and investment strategies between foreign and domestic investors.
Indian equity benchmarks remained weak on Tuesday, with the market closing at the day's low. The Sensex slipped 493 points to 77,235, while the Nifty fell 133 points to 24,155, moving below the 24,200 mark. The Nifty Bank declined 235 points to 57,262, while the Midcap index fell 278 points to 63,539. All four major indices ended the session more than 0.3% lower, with only 10 Nifty stocks closing in the green. After the closing auction session, the market adjusted lower for the second straight day, with the Nifty falling 11 points, the Sensex 90 points, and the Nifty Bank 46 points.
IT stocks remained weak, with Infosys, Wipro and HCL falling around 2% each. Realty stocks were among the top midcap losers, with Oberoi and Lodha among the top losers. Inox Wind reversed Monday's gains and ended 4% lower. Colgate slipped 3% as brokerages pointed to margin concerns following the investor meet. However, Tube Investments rose 8% after a positive outlook lifted the stock, while Bosch extended its gaining streak and is up 19% so far this month. Axis Bank and Max Health emerged as top gainers among the limited number of stocks that closed in green.
Overseas investors showed strong buying in early August, marking four consecutive fortnights of inflows. Foreign investors net bought shares worth ₹16,621 crore across sectors during August 1-15, after investing more than ₹20,200 crore in July, according to NSDL data. Financial services and automobiles attracted the highest foreign investment during this period, with financial services seeing buying of ₹6,535 crore despite being net sellers in July. IT stocks also saw buying for the third straight fortnight. Of the 24 sectors tracked, 14 got flows, while nine saw outflows, with telecom, capital goods, power and realty witnessing the highest outflows.
