FIIs net buy shares worth Rs 596 crore, DIIs net buy Rs 2700 crore on December 18

For the year so far, FIIs have been net sellers of shares worth Rs 2.79 lakh crore, while DIIs have net bought shares worth Rs 7.52 lakh crore.

Foreign investors (FIIs/FPIs) continued to be net buyers on December 18, buying  sold Rs 596 crore worth of Indian equities on Thursday. At the same time, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 2700 crore, according to provisional exchange data.

During the trading session, DIIs purchased shares worth Rs 12,376 crore and sold shares worth Rs 9,675 crore. In contrast, FIIs bought shares worth Rs 11,442 crore but sold shares totalling Rs 10,847 crore.

For the year so far, FIIs have been net sellers of shares worth Rs 2.79 lakh crore, while DIIs have net bought shares worth Rs 7.52 lakh crore.

At close, the Sensex was down 77.84 points or 0.09 percent at 84,481.81, and the Nifty was down 3 points or 0.01 percent at 25,815.55. BSE Midcap index ended flat, while smallcap index fell 0.3 percent.

On the sectoral front, realty index rose 0.3 percent and IT index rose 1 percent, while, auto, media, pharma, oil & gas and capital goods declined 0.3-1 percent.

Sun Pharma, Power Grid Corp, Tata Steel, Bajaj Auto and Asian Paints were among top losers on the Nifty, while gainers were Interglobe Aviation, Max Healthcare, TCS, Infosys and Tech Mahindra.

On today's market, Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking noted that sentiment continued to be influenced by global cues and currency-related concerns, which kept traders cautious. "While intermittent buying was seen in select index heavyweights on a rotational basis, it was insufficient to drive a decisive directional move. Overall activity remained stock-specific, with participants preferring selective opportunities over broad-based exposure," he said.