New Delhi, April 25 (IANS) Institutional activity, in Indian equities is expected to be driven mainly by global news flows in coming days, with developments in US-Iran negotiations remaining a key monitorable due to their potential impact on geopolitical stability and global energy markets, experts said on Saturday.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continues to offload Indian equities. It remained net sellers during last week as it sold Rs 171.4 billion based on provisional exchange data.

“On the other hand, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) provided strong support to the market, emerging as net buyers during last week with investments totalling Rs 97.8 billion based on provisional exchange data,” said Pabitro Mukherjee, Associate Vice President–Research, Bajaj Broking.

The month-to-date trend remain same for the 10th consecutive months with FIIs in the month of April till date have pulled out a substantial Rs 563.6 billion from Indian equities, while DIIs have infused Rs 394.8 billion during the same period, as per provisional exchange data.

According to Mukherjee, geo-political news continues to dominate Institutional flows with President Donald Trump extending the US–Iran ceasefire until Tehran presents a unified proposal to end the conflict with the US and Israel.

“It has briefly reduced concerns about geopolitical escalation but is likely to keep uncertainty elevated over a longer period. FIIs remained net sellers for all the five trading sessions last week, with quantum of selling increasing in the second half of the week,” said analysts.

Notably, US FOMC and Bank of Japan rate decision followed by central bank commentary are also scheduled for next week which will also have an impact on the global equity market and institutional activity.

On Friday, Indian equity benchmarks ended sharply lower as a surge in crude oil prices rattled investor sentiment amid rising geopolitical tensions linked to stalled US-Iran talks and disruption at the Strait of Hormuz.

The Sensex dropped 982.71 points, or 1.27 per cent, to close at 76,681.29, while the Nifty declined 275.10 points, or 1.14 per cent, to settle at 23,897.95.

—IANS

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