FPJ News Service mumbai

Markets witnessed a strong recovery last week, with the key indices registering a record four per cent jump. However, updates on tariff, FII activity, and the rupee-dollar trend would remain as major drivers for the market sentiment this week.

According to Dr V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investment Services, recent activity shows a change in FII strategy in India after relentless selling, FIIs have turned buyers. The total FII selling in March through March 21, 2025 stood at Rs 31,718 crore, and the trend of FII buying in debt continued with total debt investment of Rs 10,955 crore.

The recent reversal in FII selling has turned the market sentiments for the better, facilitating a rally in the market for the week ended March. It can be argued that positive domestic fundamentals like pickup in growth and decline in inflation coupled with weakness in the dollar have contributed to the change in FII strategy.

“We expect the upward momentum to continue, on the back of FIIs’ return to the market amid attractive valuations and signs of economic recovery,” Siddhartha Khemka, Head-Research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said.

“As no major domestic economic events are scheduled, main focus will remain on the expiry of March derivatives contracts and FII activity. On the global front, the US markets will be closely watched, with tariff-related updates and GDP growth data expected to influence investor sentiment. Although US markets saw a temporary respite after a sharp decline, mixed signals suggest potential volatility in the coming sessions,” Ajit Mishra-SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.

The combined market valuation of nine most-valued companies surged Rs 3.06 lakh crore last week, with ICICI Bank and Bharti Airtel emerging as the biggest gainers. Reliance Industries remained the most valued company, followed by HDFC Bank, TCS, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, SBI, Infosys, Bajaj Finance, Hindustan Unilever, and ITC.