FIIs dump Rs 9,040 crore worth of shares; DIIs step in with biggest buying since Feb 28

Foreign investors offloaded Indian shares worth Rs 9,040 crore on April 7, marking their second-largest selloff of the year, official data showed. Meanwhile, domestic institutions stepped in with their heftiest buying since February 28, 2025—stacking up stocks worth Rs 12,122 crore.

During the trading session of April 7, FIIs bought shares worth Rs 13,372 crore and sold shares worth Rs 22,412 crore. DIIs purchased shares worth Rs 26,528 crore and sold shares worth Rs 14,405 crore.

For the year so far, FIIs have been net sellers of shares worth Rs 1.63 lakh crore, while DIIs have net bought Rs 1.96 lakh crore worth of shares.

Market Performance

Dalal Street went into a freefall on April 7, as panic-selling took the benchmark indices sharply lower. Triggered by Donald Trump’s tariff tantrum on Wall Street, a wave of global jitters wiped out a jaw-dropping Rs 16 lakh crore in market value — the sharpest intraday collapse since June 2024. Inflation fears, a looming consumption crunch, and recession fears had investors running for cover as the Nifty and Sensex plunged deep into the red.

India VIX — the fear gauge of the domestic market — soared as much as 66 percent to 22.85 on April 7, marking its sharpest intraday spike since June 4, 2024, according to Bloomberg data. The dramatic surge has completely erased the downtrend that had been in place since the latter half of January this year.

"The primary reason behind the selloff is the fear of a full-blown global trade war and its potential to tip the world economy into a recession. Countries including China, Canada, and the European Union have spoken about retaliatory tariffs on American goods, and the uncertainty around whether a settlement can be reached before the next phase of tariff hikes is causing widespread nervousness," Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Research and Wealth Management said in a conversation with Moneycontrol.

Khemka advised against panic selling or making adventurous bets. Instead, he recommended a disciplined, long-term approach. Investors should use the correction to gradually accumulate fundamentally strong, domestically focused companies, particularly in consumption, financials, and banks. These areas are better positioned to weather global headwinds compared to globally exposed sectors like IT, pharma, and metals.