Betting big on the Indian equity markets, foreign fund houses have made a net

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investment of Rs 4,334 crore in the first week of March, taking their total inflow to Rs 5,051 crore or USD 1.11 billion so far this year.

Till March 5, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) are gross buyer of shares worth 12,941.70 crore, while they sold equities worth Rs 8,661.1 crore, resulting in a net investment of Rs 4334.70 crore or USD 942.05 million, as per the data available with the capital markets regulator SEBI.

Pointing out that it is the positive impact of the Budget 2011, market analysts feel that in the coming days too the foreign fund houses may keep investing in the Indian bourses, although the response to the NMDC FPO will a guiding factor.

"The FII inflows in March have been strong. This may be because of better-than-expected Budget," SMC Capitals' equity head Jagannathan Thunuguntla said.

"The inflows may continue, however, that would be highly influenced and affected by NMDC FPO, in the coming week, which is expected to raise about Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 12,000 crore.

"So, that is almost USD 2.4 billion issue size. Hence, lot of inflows will go towards that issue, impacting the flows into secondary markets," he added.

State-run miner NMDC Ltd is coming out with its follow-on public offer, which will be open on March 10.

After the presentation of Budget in Lok Sabha on February, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark index Sensex has gained 4.55 per cent.