Foreign Institutional Investors were net buyers for close to Rs 9,000 crore or $2 billion, on Friday, when the broader markets were down by about one per cent. This number gains significance in view of the fact that so far in calendar 2012, net FII investment in the Indian equity market has been to the tune of $5 billion.
FIIs were net buyers at Rs 8,955.30 crore on the two main bourses, while Domestic Institutional Investors were net sellers at Rs 836 crore. On the BSE, they were net buyers at Rs 50 crore.
While FIIs have been buying into Indian equities, the heavy investment on Friday was due to the Citi-HDFC deal which brought in close to $1.9 billion. Citi sold its 9.85 per cent stake, or 145.3 million shares, in HDFC on the NSE at Rs 657.56 per share.
“This deal accounted for the majority of the action we saw from the FII side today,” said Mr Abhinav Angirish, Founder and CEO, InvestOnline.in.
The rupee goaded by the huge FII inflows closed the day at Rs 48.93/94, a gain of 26 paise or 0.53 per cent from its previous close. This is a three-week high for the rupee.
The Sensex closed on Friday at 17,923.57, down 0.9 per cent from its previous close. The Nifty was also down 0.9 per cent and ended the day at 5429.