Retail investors offload shares worth ₹7,500 crore in September
Retail investors have unloaded shares worth more than ₹7,500 crore in September 2024, making it the biggest sell-off since March of this year. This happened even as the Indian markets hit record highs, and both domestic and foreign institutional investors were busy snapping up shares. While retail investors were selling, domestic investors bought shares worth around ₹17,421 crore, and foreign investors got their hands on shares worth about ₹55,855 crore during this time.
Profit booking and shift to other asset classes
Retail investors have been on a selling spree, mostly due to profit booking and a rise in public issues. This has pushed a lot of small-time investors to cash out their profits and dive into IPOs. Deepak Jasani, Retail Research head at HDFC Securities, said, "Many are likely shifting from secondary markets to IPOs, given the strong IPO market." He also pointed out that some investors might be moving their money into other asset classes like real estate or gold.
IPO market performance and investor behavior
In September, 13 companies launched their IPOs with a total size of ₹11,890 crore. Out of these, only one IPO listed in negative territory while three saw marginal gains over their issue price. The remaining nine IPOs listed with gains ranging between 18% and 135%. So far this year, 63 firms have raised ₹65,345 crore through IPOs.
Market performance amid retail investors' sell-off
Despite the sell-off by retail investors, both Sensex and Nifty have seen gains of 3.9% and 3.7%, respectively, in September. The broader markets, BSE MidCap and SmallCap, have also risen by 0.9% and 1.91%. Since the start of this year, Sensex and Nifty have surged by 18.5% and 20%, while mid- and small-cap indices have posted gains of about 34%.
