 "FIIs buy Sensex shares worth over $5 bn in Oct-Dec qtr")
The FII holding declined in only one blue-chip company Hero MotoCorp during the October-December 2012 quarter, showing the shareholding pattern of 30 Sensex companies.
Most of the foreign entities trade in Indian stocks through FII route and market analysts said the overseas investors appear to have been enthused by the stability in the equity market and reform initiatives taken by the government during the quarter.
As per the current market value of the Sensex companies, FIIs are estimated to have purchased shares worth about Rs 26,335 crore ($5 billion) in 29 Sensex companies during the last quarter.
At the same time, the FIIs are estimated to have sold shares worth about Rs 129 crore ($24 million) in one Sensex company - resulting in a net investment of over Rs 26,207 crore ($4.89 billion) in all the Sensex firms together.
FIIs infused a net amount of more than Rs 46,000 crore in the entire Indian stock market in October-December quarter on the back of a slew of reforms initiated by the government, pushing the broader market Sensex to surge 664 points, or 3.5%, during the period.
Among the Sensex firms, FIIs raised their stake in HDFC, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Infosys, Wipro, ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro, SBI, Cipla, GAIL, BHEL and Mahindra & Mahindra during three months ended December 31, 2012.
Besides, they also increased their holdings in Sun Pharma, ITC, HUL, Hindalco, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd, Maruti, Bajaj Auto, ONGC, GAIL, Tata Group firms -- Tata Power, Tata Motors, Tata Steel and TCS -- Bharti Airtel, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, NTPC and Coal India in the quarter under review.
Interestingly, shareholding of overseas institutional investors in HDFC has risen to 73.17%--the highest level in nearly seven years- up from 68.72% at the end of previous quarter. Incidentally, largest rise in FII ownership was also recorded by HDFC.
After HDFC, largest rise in FII ownership was recorded by auto maker Mahindra & Mahindra followed by Maruti.
In Mahindra & Mahindra overseas investors hiked their stake by 2.86 percentage points to 32.86% at the end of December quarter, wherein their holding rose by 2.68 percentage points to 23.13% in Maruti.
FII raised their holding in Bajaj Auto from 15.11% to 17.04% in the October-December quarter.
In contrast, FII reduced their stake marginally in Hero MotoCorp from 32.34% during July-September quarter from 31.99% in October-December quarter.