FIIs selling to the tune of Rs 16,934 cr in Sep

The Fed’s hawkish pause message has created a global risk-averse sentiment in global equity markets, says V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services. The spike in the dollar index to 105.52 and the US 10-year bond yield shooting up to a 16-year high of 4.5 per cent are negative for equity markets, particularly emerging markets, he added.

The FIIs have reversed their ‘Buy India strategy’ which they have been following in the last 3 months with selling to the tune of Rs 16,934 crore in September through 21st, he said.

Countering this negative trend is the hugely positive news of JP Morgan including India in the Emerging Market Bond Index with a weightage of 10 per cent from June 2024 onwards. This will reduce bond yields and the consequent decline in the cost of borrowing will boost the bottom line of companies. In the near-term, FIIs may press further selling in response to rising US bond yields, he said. If this happens it will open up opportunities for investors to buy quality large-caps, particularly banking stocks which will benefit a lot from the bond inclusion, he said. BSE Sensex is up 88 points at 66318 points on Friday. SBI is up over 2 per cent.