FII buying touches 6-mth high in October

Institutions were net sellers for only two days in the month

Stock purchases by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) on the domestic bourses touched a six-month high of Rs 4,042 crore in October. The highlight of the deals was that, of the 20 trading days in the month, FIIs were net sellers for only two days.

FII buying during the month mainly centered around the public issue of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC). Of the total buying of Rs 4,042 crore, FIIs invested Rs 1,872 crore in the NTPC issue. The FII buying of 30.19 crore NTPC shares was valued at Rs 1,872 crore.

The FIIs deals in October were the second-largest in a month totalling Rs 16,560 crore. The previous best was recorded in May with deals worth Rs 20,383 crore.

Interestingly, FIIs' aggregate selling at Rs 12,517 crore has been the second-largest in the history of the domestic capital market, the largest being in May 2004 at Rs 18,961 crore.

The FII buying in the domestic bourses in the calendar year 2003 tops Rs 56,860 crore or $12.50 billion at the current exchange rate.

In the last 22 months beginning January 1, 2003, the FIIs were net sellers only in May 2004 when the National Democratic Alliance lost power in the general elections.

The FIIs net buying in calendar year 2003 aggregated Rs 30,786 crore, while in the first 10 months of the current calendar year it aggregated Rs 26,074 crore.

According to the latest data, FIIs have increased their holding in Sensex stocks in the quarter ended September 2004. They bought 12.15 million shares of Reliance Industries valued at Rs 663 crore.

Among other deals, foreign institutional investorss picked up 10.26 million shares of Satyam Computer, 13.11 million shares of Tata Steel, 2.2 million shares of Infosys Technologies, 2.57 million shares of Larsen & Toubro, 3.27 million shares of BHEL and 2.42 million shares of ONGC.