FIIs pour in Rs 15,700 crore in Indian stock market in October

Overseas investors pumped in more than Rs 15,700 crore ($2.55 billion) in the Indian equity market in October, continuing their buying spree amid easing concerns over the US tapering its monetary stimulus.

Total foreign investment in the stock market has reached Rs 90,715 crore ($16.5 billion) so far in 2013 according to data from market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were gross buyers of equities worth Rs 57,051 crore and sellers of Rs 41,345 crore of shares in October, resulting in a net inflow of Rs 15,706 crore. This is the second consecutive month of inflows.

FIIs had invested a net Rs 13,000 crore in stocks in September, following three straight months of net FII equity outflows amounting to Rs 23,000 crore.

However, FIIs pulled out Rs 13,578 crore from debt securities in October. This takes the net outflow from the debt market to Rs 51,212 crore since the beginning of the year.

"Since September 2013, markets have been witnessing buoyant FII inflows, not merely on the back of continued global liquidity as the US Fed appears to have postponed withdrawal of its monetary stimulus for now, but also on account of our receding external risks," a market analyst said.

"The latter can be mainly attributed to the anticipated moderation in our current account deficit as well as policy measures taken to attract capital in order to finance the deficit," he added.

FIIs have helped push up the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex by about 1,785 points, or 9.2 per cent, during the month to settle at 21,164.52 points on October 31.

At the end of October, the number of registered FIIs in the country stood at 1,749 and the total number of
sub-accounts at 6,369.