3 major funds offload Rs 170 cr shares in 7 days

3 major funds offload Rs 170 cr shares in 7 days Monday, September 29, 2008 The worsening financial crisis in the US has led to a selling frenzy among the foreign funds invested in Indian stocks, with three of the major ones Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch offloading as much as Rs 170 crore in the open market transactions. Analysts believe the liquidity crunch being witnessed by major global financial institutions has made them heavy sellers in stocks from emerging markets including India as they need cash back home. As a result, Indian stock market has witnessed the net sale by FIIs touching nearly two billion dollar mark so far this month. According to data available with market regulator SEBI the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have sold off shares worth USD 1,998.50 million (Rs 8,061 crore) so far, this month. While in the past week alone FIIs have offloaded shares worth USD 549 million (about Rs 2,277 crore). "Majorly the foreign investors based in US are the main sellers in Indian equities as they need cash back home to shore up their balance sheets," Bonanza Portfolio President Research P K Agarwal said. Morgan Stanley alone sold off shares worth Rs 104 crore, while Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs offloaded equities worth Rs 36 and 30 crore respectively, in a host of domestic companies in various bulk deals on the bourses in the past week.