Foreign investors pull ₹34,843 crore from Indian stocks in October

what happened

Foreign portfolio investors took ₹34,843 crore out of Indian equities in October, according to Moody's, extending a second straight month of heavy selling. Worries about expensive crude, high global borrowing costs and the earnings picture drove the exits.

Late in the month the mood shifted. From October 26 to 30, these investors bought roughly ₹6,300 crore on a net basis, after selling nearly ₹2,700 crore in the week to October 23, CDSL data show. September outflows reached ₹35,861 crore, while July and August brought inflows of ₹20,200 crore and ₹29,631 crore. Year to date, cumulative net selling has hit ₹2.95 lakh crore.

Analysts caution against reading too much into a single week. Anand K Rathi of MIRA Money said the durability of the rebound depends on clearer signals on the global economy, oil and corporate profits. VK Vijayakumar of Geojit Investments pointed to the Fed's decision to hold rates and to reasonable valuations in large caps, and noted the Nifty climbed back above 23,000.

why it matters

The shift matters because it hints that foreign sentiment toward India may be stabilising. Still, the year's cumulative outflows remain very large, so the Nifty and the rupee stay sensitive to oil prices and US rates.

market impact

Indian stocks (Nifty 50): late-month buying partly offsets heavy outflows, so direction stays unclear

• ↔Nifty 50 mixed — late foreign buying offsets the heavy October outflows

instruments