Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) are net sellers of Indian equities, selling shares worth Rs 4,285 crore over the first three days in January.This early trend is a departure from December 2024 when foreign institutional investors (FIIs) ended up as net buyers at Rs 15,446 crore. For the full year ended December 31, they bought equities worth just Rs 427 crore. This was on account of massive selling by FIIs in just two months of October and November when they net sold domestic equities amounting to Rs 115,629 crore.Over the last 10 years, FIIs have been net sellers six times in January with the highest selling in 2022 at Rs 33,303 crore. <iframe title="FII trends of last 10 years in Jan" aria-label="Bar Chart" id="datawrapper-chart-Ub1Sy" src="https://et-infographics.indiatimes.com/graphs/Ub1Sy/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="335" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();</script>Commenting on the current trends, V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services said that the general perception that the market has turned weak due to sustained FII selling during the last three months is largely true. However, what is not generally appreciated is that even while selling in the cash market through exchanges, FIIs have been buyers through the primary market, he highlighted."They have been big investors through the QIP route. For December, FIIs sold equity for Rs 2590 through the exchanges; but they bought equity for Rs 18036 crores through the ‘primary market and others’ category," Vijayakumar said."The message is clear - FII selling is due to high valuations in the secondary market. In the primary market where the valuations are fair, FIIs have been sustained investors. FIIs are likely to continue to sell going forward, so long as the dollar continues to rally and the US bonds yield attractive returns," he opined.The dollar index at around 109 and the 10-year bond yield above 4.5% are strong headwinds for FII flows.Also Read: Hyundai Motor, Swiggy, 2 other newly listed stocks to become largecaps. Ola Electric rides to midcaps(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)