MFs buy when others sell

While many retail investors were unable to do any bottom fishing earlier this week, mutual funds MFs, attracted by the low prices, were on a buying spree. On Monday MFs bought stocks worth Rs 1,998 crore and invested another Rs 1,175 crore on Tuesday. The Sensex had fallen by 2,200 points on Monday and Tuesday, largely led by FII selling. Domestic MFs have invested Rs 4,309 crore 1.1 billion in January so far. On the other hand, FIIs have pulled out 2.46 billion around Rs 10,000 crore in the month of January. FIIs have been pulling out over 500 million around Rs 2,000 crore from the Indian stocks daily since Monday.

Many retail investors who were keen to buy at rock-bottom prices on Monday and Tuesday couldn8217;t do as brokers refused to entertain the orders in view of the panic situation and margin calls. 8220;Even the online trading portals of some companies and brokerages collapsed. I couldn8217;t place any orders on Tuesday as my online trading system failed. This could be either due to heavy traffic or shutdown by portal managers. I didn8217;t get any explanation,8221; said a retail investor.