Bear shadow of FIIs puts Street on edge

The rally proved short-lived. A day after India's stock markets shot up more than 1% following Donald Trump's victory in the US elections, adding ₹7.75 trillion to investor wealth, the benchmark indices were back on their downward slide.

- Ram Sahgal

Sustained selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in cash and derivatives markets turned the market turbulent. Both benchmark indices fell more than 1%, erasing much of the wealth gained a day earlier. The NSE Nifty tumbled 1.16% to 24,199.35 and the BSE Sensex fell 1.04% to 79,541.79. The rupee hit a new low as well.

To be sure, FIIs had also sold shares on the day of the US election results as well—worth ₹3,713.67 crore, according to NSDL data—but that was offset by purchases of ₹4,889.33 crore by domestic institutional investors (DIIs).

On Thursday, FIIs sold shares worth a provisional ₹4,888.77 crore, as per BSE data. The indices took a beating as DII purchases totalled just a provisional ₹1,786.7 crore.