FII sales in F&O cross Rs 6,600cr

The market is witnessing a sell-off triggered by huge negative numbers from foreign institutional investors (FIIs). The Sensex has slumped 7.7% (923 points) from its all-time high of 11,931 to today's intra-day low of 11,008 in just four trading sessions.

FIIs have turned sellers for the last two consecutive trading sesssions. They were net sellers of stocks to the tune of Rs 848.80 crore on last Friday and Monday. Further, the buzz in the market is that they are likely to report net sales worth Rs 840 crore on Wednesday when the Sensex dropped 307 points.

What may have caused a bigger concern for investors is the unabated selling in the futures & options segment by the FIIs. They have been net sellers in the F&O segment for the last five sessions. Yesterday they sold index futures worth Rs 839.07 crore and stocks futures to the tune of Rs 1,326.48 crore - net sales of Rs 2,091.81 crore. Overall, in the last five trading days, they have been net sellers in F&O to the tune of Rs 6,621.86 crore.

Interestingly, mutual funds, which are sitting on piles of cash, also turned sellers yesterday and pulled out Rs 200.86 crore from the market on Monday.