FIIs still long on index futures after Friday’s mammoth cash sale

MUMBAI: Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold the most shares by value on a single day Friday, but market analysts cite their cumulative net bullish stance on index futures — Nifty and Bank Nifty — to claim that the correction from February 16’s record high of 15,431.75 might have more or less played out.

FIIs clocked their largest single-day outflow of a provisional ₹8,295.17 crore from Indian equities on Friday, but remained cumulative net buyers of index futures — Nifty and Bank Nifty — to the extent of 29,211 contracts on the first day of the March derivatives.

“Their (FIIs) being net long index futures offers some comfort that the correction could be more or less done,” said Rohit Srivastava, founder, IndiaCharts. “At most, there could be a 150-200-point dip after which the market could stabilise.”


To be sure, Friday’s cash market sale is eclipsed by the highest-ever ₹2.63 lakh crore FII inflows into Indian equities in the current fiscal year (FY21).

FIIs have largely been net buyers of index futures since the beginning of the current fiscal, except for a few days in May and October-November of last year.