As foreign institutional investors (FII) withdrew their investments in April due to the renewed Covid situation, software and services and real estate stocks bucked the trend and attracted foreign funds in the second half of the month.

According to a report published by Emkay Global Financial Services, FIIs are most interested in companies in the software and services and real estate sectors. The software and services sector saw $281 million in buying, while the real estate sector saw $232 million during the fortnight of April 16-30, 2021.

The Materials sector, on the other hand, saw FIIs turn sellers last fortnight, with the maximum sectoral outflow of $570 million. FIIs continued to sell in the banking and energy sectors, each having outflows of more than $200 million.

A $125 million outflow in automobile and component stocks was followed by a $101 million sell-off in diversified financial stocks. After six months, FIIs switched from net buyers to net sellers in April. Last month, they withdrew Rs 12,039.43 crore in net investments. FII inflows have been unparalleled in the past year, owing to a stock market rally and an increase in liquidity in India and other economies. However, the extreme Covid crisis and subsequent lockdowns have dampened investor sentiments in the last month.