Do FIIs buy high and sell low–III? Panic-selling during declines
May 16, 2013
FIIs usually put in their highest investments near the market peaks and are usually found to be chasing both market rallies. Do they at least steel their nerves and buy during market declines? Not quite
Debashis Basu
On 9th April, the Sensex hit 18,206.61 during the trading day. The index had been falling all the way from 20,203 it hit on 29th January. Remember during January, FIIs (foreign institutional investors) had put in an investment of Rs19,198 crore, the third-highest ever. But instead of heading higher from that point onwards, the market had been declining. FIIs continued to buy during March, even after an insipid Union Budget. Finally in April, after the market had fallen more than 1,500 points, FIIs turned reluctant sellers. On 9th April, the index fell sharply in one last swoon.