Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) ended the week as net sellers of Rs 1,602 crore while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), by contrast, were net buyers on each of the five trading days, investing Rs 17,320 crore. FIIs reverted to sell mode after three weeks of buying and their selling aggregate this week masked an uneven pattern of activity, analysts said. During the week, FIIs started off with selling in the opening session, buying across the next two sessions, and reverting to selling over the final two days. Over the extended period from July 20 to Aug 21, FIIs were sellers in the first week, buyers over the next three, and sellers again in the current week. However, their cumulative activity over last month resulted in net purchases of Rs 1,282 crore for the period. DIIs remained net buyers in every week over last month, aggregating in a purchase of Rs 48,390 crore.
Analysing month‑to‑date data in August, market watchers said both FIIs and DIIs have been on the buying side of the market, with FIIs adding net Rs 2,510 crore and DIIs buying Rs 34,370 crore. Benchmark Indices traded in a range with corrective bias for the second week in a row as elevated crude oil prices above $92 and continued tensions between the US and Iran kept investors cautious. Nifty started the week on a negative note and formed an intra-week low of 24,026 by mid-week. However, pullback in the last two sessions of the week saw the index closing off the lows at 24,252 levels down by 0.5 per cent. Broader markets relatively outperformed with the Nifty Midcap 100 index closing the week on a flat note. Nifty small cap 100 index touched a fresh all time high to close the week higher by over 1 per cent. Investors are expected to closely watch crude oil price movements and geo political developments especially related to the US‑Iran conflict.
