Mumbai, Mar 8 (IANS): Holdings of foreign institutional investors (FII) in Nifty50 have reached a five-year high as investments flowed in at an unprecedented rate amid the pandemic.

FII ownership in Nifty50 rose 170 basis points (bps) to 27.6 per cent during October-December on a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis, showed a Motilal Oswal Institutional Equities.

Meanwhile, holdings of domestic institutional investors (DII) in Nifty50 saw a reduction of 30 bps to 16 per cent. The FII/DII ownership ratio has moved up to 1.6x in December 2020.

"On a QoQ basis, FIIs have increased weights in private banks, NBFCs, metals, PSU banks, capital goods, consumer durables, real estate, cement, and utilities. While, oil and gas, technology, healthcare, consumer, auto, insurance, and telecom have seen a reduction," it said.

In the third quarter of FY21, sectors that posted an increase in weight by DIIs on a QoQ basis were private banks, NBFC, PSU banks, metals, capital goods, consumer durables, real estate, and retail. Conversely, oil and gas, healthcare, consumer, automobiles, utilities, cement, technology, and insurance posted a reduction in weight.

FII inflow increased to $3 billion in February 2021 from $2 billion in January 2021. On the other hand, DII outflows continued with outflows of $2.2 billion in February 2021.