Foreigners Turn Tail on Indian Bonds, Continue to Buy Stocks

(Bloomberg) -- While foreigners continue to pile into Indian equities, they’ve turned sellers of the nation’s debt.

Global funds pulled a combined 89.5 billion rupees ($1.3 billion) from local sovereign and corporate bonds so far this month, according to data from the National Securities Depository Ltd. That’s a reversal from 166.4 billion rupees of purchases in March.

Elevated oil prices, a rise in U.S. Treasury yields and India’s central bank taking a less dovish path than many had expected are among the key reasons for the outflows, according to Nagaraj Kulkarni, senior Asia rates strategist at Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore.

The withdrawals have been highest in corporate debt, totaling almost 74 billion rupees. That compares with inflows of 147.7 billion rupees last month after the Reserve Bank of India eased rules on foreign investment into company bonds.

Global funds have bought shares worth $684 million so far this month, taking the year-to-date purchases to more than $7.5 billion, the highest among major Asia markets tracked by Bloomberg.

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