FPIs turn cautious, pull out Rs 13,000 cr from Indian stocks in Jan

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

According to the data, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) made a net withdrawal of Rs 13,047 crore in Indian equities this month (till January 19).
They pulled out over Rs 24,000 crore from equities during January 17-19. Before this, FPIs made a net investment of Rs 66,134 crore in December and Rs 9,000 crore in November.

«There are two main reasons why FPIs turned sellers. One, the US bond yield started rising with the 10-year yield rising from the recent level of 3.9 per cent to 4.15 per cent triggering capital outflows from emerging markets,» V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said.
«Second, since the valuations in India are high, FPIs used the excuse of less-than-expected results from HDFC Bank to press massive sales too,» he added.

The extensive selling by FPIs could be attributed to offloading their stake in HDFC Bank given its disappointing quarterly results, Himanshu Srivastava, Associate Director, Manager Research, Morningstar Investment Research India said.
FPIs started the new year with a cautious approach opting to book profits in the Indian equity markets as key stock indices touched all-time high levels, he said.
Moreover, uncertainty over the interest rate scenario also prompted them to stay on the sidelines and wait for further cues, before deciding to invest in emerging markets like India, he added.