New Delhi, May 7 (IANS): Continuing its selling spree for the seventh consecutive month, foreign portfolio investors have pulled out Rs 17,144 crore from the Indian equity market in April. In May too, the trend remained the same.

The recent pullout was triggered due to an aggressive rate hike by the US Federal Reserve, which is a negative for Indian investors.

Analysts say foreign flows are likely to remain volatile in the near term amid the high prospect of aggressive rate hikes globally and the headwinds in terms of higher crude prices, and rising Inflation.

FPIs remained net sellers for seven months to March 2022, withdrawing a massive net amount of Rs 1.65 lakh crore from equities.

The ongoing geopolitical environment following Russia's invasion of Ukraine also weighed on FPIs buying sentiment.

"FPIs continued selling in the early days of May also with a net sell figure of Rs 6723.59 cr through May 6," said V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Since markets have turned very weak globally FPIs may continue to sell perhaps with reduced volume.

"Even after the recent correction in the market, valuations are not cheap. Perhaps, if Nifty corrects another 5 per cent from the current levels, FPIs are likely to turn buyers."