Companies operating in the oil, gas and consumable fuels space saw selling worth Rs 4,524 crore, followed by financial services (Rs 3,346 crore) and IT (Rs 3,133 crore), according to data collated by Primeinfobase.
In the energy sector, the selling was largely in Reliance Industries (RIL), and the withdrawal from the IT stocks was attributed to the banking crisis in the western world.
Meanwhile, FPIs bought capital goods stocks worth Rs 1,731 crore, construction materials worth Rs 1,140 crore, and construction company shares worth Rs 1,199 crore. Shares of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) worth Rs 1,103 crore and consumer durables (Rs 850 crore) were the other buys during this period.
“Still, volume growth (in FMCG) is in single digits. In a higher interest-hike scenario, FMCG is the best defensive sector. Maybe FPIs think the rate-hike cycle hasn’t peaked,” said Chokkalingam.
Despite the selling, the highest sectoral allocation was to financial services firms at 33.5 per cent, up from 33.07 per cent in the previous fortnight. IT (10.97 per cent) and energy (10.11 per cent) were the other sectors with high FPI allocation.