Mere Karan Arjun aayenge: FIIs turn net buyers after 11 sessions, buy shares worth Rs 4,786 crore; DIIs buy Rs 3,072-crore shares

FII turn net buyers of shares worth Rs 4,786 crore; exceed DIIs as net buyers of Rs 3,072 crore.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) turned net buyers on February 18, buying shares worth Rs 4,786.56 crore exceeding domestic institutional investors (DII) as net buyers of shares worth Rs 3,072.19 crore, provisional data showed.

Reacting to the reversal in flows, market veteran Samir Arora posted on social media platform X. He jokingly compared the situation to the 90s Bollywood reincarnation drama "Karan Arjun" noting that whether the reversal is due to the Block deal in Bharti Airtel or optimism for India, it was a positive for  India as it proved that India continues to be on FII radar.

He said, "Why (did FIIs return)- whether it is due to Bharat or Bharati (India) who cares. It shows that FIIs are not one way sellers and that they are around -Mere Karan Arjun zaroor aayenge."

On February 18, Bharti Airtel promoter Indian Continent Investment sold stake worth Rs 8,475 cr in the telecom major. In a statement, the company had said that its promoter entity has sold a 0.84 percent stake in the company, with 1.20 crore of those shares acquired by Bharti Telecom, another promoter of the telecom operator. The last time FIIs pulled off a similar feat was on February 4, 2025, after which it sustained its selling momentum as against buying by DIIs, as has been majority of the case since October last year.

During the trading session of February 18, DIIs net bought shares worth Rs 12,792.87 crore and sold shares worth Rs 9,720.68 crore. FIIs purchased shares worth Rs 14,537.68 crore and sold shares worth Rs 9,751.12 crore.

For the year so far, FIIs have been net sellers of shares worth Rs 1,15,619 crore, while DIIs have net bought Rs 1,20,439 crore worth of shares.

Also Read: Taking Stock: Nifty, Sensex end flat in choppy session but off lows, smallcaps underperform

Market Performance

On Tuesday, market trading began with benchmark equity indices experiencing a slight dip, primarily attributed to disappointing earnings reports from several key companies and the persistent selling activity by foreign institutional investors. The Nifty 50 ended down 0.06% at 22,945.30, while the BSE Sensex settled 0.04% lower at 75,967.39.

Reflecting on today's market performance, Nandish Shah - Deputy Vice President, HDFC Securities said, "It was yet another session, where Nifty managed to protect the support of 22,800. Nifty made an intraday low at 22,801 and recovered 170 points from there in the second half. NSE cash market volumes were higher by 2% compared to the previous session. The rupee weakened by 7 paise against the US dollar, reaching 86.95, pressured by foreign fund outflows and a widening trade deficit."

Nifty smallcap Index resumed its downward journey where it plunged by 1.59% to close at its lowest level since March 26, 2024. On the other hand, Nifty Midcap 100 Index recovered more  than 1% from the intraday lows and finally ended with the minor losses of 0.20%. Market breadth remained weak for the ninth consecutive day, with the advance-decline ratio on the BSE standing at 0.36, indicating that declining stocks continued to outnumber advancing ones.

He further added, "Amongst the sectoral Indices, Nifty IT and OIL/Gas gained the most while Nifty Consumer durables, FMCG and Auto were major losers. Short term trend of the Nifty is still bearish as it is placed below its important short term moving averages.  A potential reversal signal would be a move above the 5-day EMA, currently placed around 23,020. "