Foreign investors pulled out a record amount of money from the Indian stock market in October, extending their selling spree as they remained cautious about the high valuations of local stocks.
Foreign institutional investors have been net sellers for the 16th consecutive day and have offloaded nearly Rs 93,500 crore since Sept. 27, according to provisional data from NSE.
This grievous outlook has caused Indian stocks to see the most outflows in Asia. The quantum of inflows into China cannot be ascertained as the nation has stopped publishing details of foreign flows.
So far in October, global funds have offloaded nearly Rs 82,500 crore, the highest-ever outflow in a single month. The previous highest monthly outflows of Rs 61,973 crore were seen during the Covid-19 selloff in March 2020.
The outflows seen in the country are commensurate with the beginning of the stimulus blitz seen in China—from interest rate cuts to easing spending by local government—to revive the economy.
However, domestic institutions have cushioned the foreign outflows, having mopped up most of the selling by global funds. Indian funds have bought stocks worth Rs 90,900 crore, as per data from NSE.
The benchmark indices, NSE Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex, have fallen by about 5.56% and 5.33%, respectively, in the last 16 days after the key gauges hit fresh highs.