Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys might have seen a flurry of price target cuts post a muted set of quarter numbers and guidance, foreign portfolio investors were bullish on IT stocks, at least in the first fortnight of April, data available with NSDL suggests. TCS reported its quarterly results on April 12 and Infosys on April 13.
As per NSDL data, the foreign investor category infused Rs 8,767 crore into domestic stocks between April 1 and April 15. This is against Rs 4,640 crore worth stocks they sold in the previous fortnight.
FPIs bought Rs 1,002 crore worth IT sector stocks in April after pulling out Rs 3,133 crore in the previous fortnight. They bought Rs 4,410 crore worth of banking and financial stocks against an outflow of Rs 3,346 crore in the March 16-31 fortnight. In auto sector, FPIs infused Rs 1,259 crore money against Rs 439 crore outflows, data suggests.
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"During the fortnight ending April 15, FPIs heavily bought financial stocks for Rs 4,410 crore. They were also buyers in automobiles and capital goods. There were huge delivery volumes in stocks like HDFC Bank, HDFC and Tata Motors. It can be safely assumed that bulk of this delivery buying was done by FPIs," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
Capital goods stocks saw Rs 408 crore in FPI buying in the first fortnight of April against inflows of Rs 1,731 crore in the second fortnight of March. FMCG sector also saw Rs 348 crore in buying, in addition to Rs 1,103 crore inflows in the second fortnight of March.
FPIs have also increased their holding in ITC, Vijayakumar said.
"Stocks in which FPI holding is steadily rising are showing resilience even during market weakness. The only exception is IT stocks which also saw FPI buying, though marginal, in the first fortnight of April. FPI inflows are likely to remain stable, going forward. Financials will continue to attract more inflows since the early Q4 results of the segment are very good," Vijayakumar said.