Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) offloaded ₹24,753 crore worth of shares from the Indian equities market so far this month, marking 13 back-to-back weeks of outflows.
With mounting global tensions and a dim earnings season in February, the month of March began with less vigour, as $2.8 billion left India markets.
This meant that FPIs pulled out ₹1.37 lakh crore since the year began, according to exchange data.
The latest disruptive moves by Donald Trump factored into investor sentiment, as the US President’s decision to lift tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada, and to impose reciprocal actions on various nations, including India, weighed on the market outlook.
In the meantime, more and more investors moved to invest in Chinese stocks, according to market experts. This led to a rally in Chinese stocks, with the Hang Seng Index gaining by almost 24 per cent YTD. In contrast, the Nifty 50 here posted a negative 5 per cent return.
Despite this, last week was good for Indian equities, with the combined market cap of seven out of the ten most valued companies in India jumping ₹2.1 lakh crore. Reliance Industries and TCS were the biggest gainers among the top-valued firms.
Benchmark indices BSE Sensex gained 1.55 per cent, and NSE Nifty rose by 1.93 per cent during the week.
Vinod Nair of Geojit Financial Services said that Indian markets have shown resilience despite the looming trade war. This was in contrast with the S&P 500 index in the US, which went into correction mode, as American investors assessed the potential impact of tariffs on the US economy.
As the trading for the week ended on Friday, India markets ended flat for the day. However, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul, and Wall Street closed lower.
The rupee also rebounded as the week ended, settling 17 paise higher at 86.95 vs the US dollar. The American currency further slipped to record a five-month low for the dollar index.
