No Rexit impact? Foreign funds took out Rs 2,837 cr on June 20

Domestic institutions including state-run behemoth LIC saved the day for Indian markets on June 20, as overseas investors pressed sell-button amid 'Rexit' jitters to take out over Rs 2,837 crore from Indian markets -- the highest single-day outflow so far this fiscal.

Life Insurance Corp, one of the most active institutional investors, is believed to have pumped in Rs 99 crore to purchase shares of 6-7 bluechip firms, while mutual funds also turned heavy buyers with a net purchase of shares worth Rs 459 crore and debt securities worth Rs 1,215 crore during the day.

The hectic buying by domestic institutions, as also by some top-shot brokers in their proprietary accounts, was in sharp contrast to heavy selling of stocks by foreign portfolio investors, retail investors and even the NRIs.

As per the depository data released on June 21, FPIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 2,837 crore in Indian markets during Monday's trade -- the first trading session after the much- celebrated RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan's surprise announcement over the weekend that he would not take the second term after end of his current three-year tenure on September 4.

The net outflow by FPIs in equities stood at Rs 528 crore, while in the debt market they were net sellers to the tune of a whopping Rs 2,310 crore.

Their overall net outflow at Rs 2,837 crore on Monday was highest for a single day since March 29, while their equities net outflow was also maximum in about a month since May 25.

The data released by markets regulator SEBI on June 21 showed that mutual funds bought shares worth Rs 1,462 crore and sold Rs 1,003 crore on Monday, resulting in a net purchase worth Rs 459 crore. For debt market, they were net buyer of shares worth Rs 1,215 crore.

As per the data from stock exchanges, all DIIs put together made a net inflow of Rs 724.06 crore in equities, which was more than the net outflow due to sell-off by FPIs -- thus helping the stock markets move higher.

However, the debt markets were not that lucky as sell-off by overseas investors there turned out to be higher.

While there was no official comment from LIC on queries about its purchase of shares on Monday, sources there said that the state-run insurer pumped in Rs 99 crore to buy shares of 6-7 blue chip companies.

The stock exchange data further showed that retail investors, while trading as clients of brokerage firms, were net sellers to the tune of about Rs 125 crore -- a figure much higher than their average daily figure.

The NRIs, who are not very active in Indian markets, also sold shares worth a net amount of Rs 4.35 crore, but the brokerage firms in their proprietary accounts were net buyers to the tune of more than Rs 25 crore -- again higher than their daily average figure.