Foreign institutional investors turned net sellers in the entire previous week after a gap of nine months. FIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 3,693.50 crore ($833.28 million) in the last five trading days between February 26 and March 2.

Last year, between May 22 and May 26, FIIs had sold shares worth Rs 5,993.60 crore ($1.33 billion) during the whole week. They had pulled out record Rs 7,354.20 crore ($1.63 billion) in May 2006.

The FII selling in the cash segment had triggered the Sensex fall by 746.40 points or 5.47 per cent over the week. The Sensex had crashed by 1,112 points intraday on black Monday (May 22, 2006).

However, FIIs have been net buyers in the current calendar year to the tune of Rs 6,759 crore ($1.85 billion).  They sold Rs 16,343 crore shares, while purchasing equity worth Rs 12,650 crore in last five trading days.

The FIIs invested a net $8.94 billion in stocks and bonds in 2006 compared with a record $9.46 billion in 2005. Overseas investors have bought stocks and bonds worth $51.33 billion since they were allowed to invest in 1993.

"One should not look at a week's or a couple of weeks' data and portray it as a trend. Anyway, we should not get alarmed by the FII selling. But, I feel there is more room for downside in the market," said Shankar Sharma of First Global, adding, "We feel there will be earnings downgrade by companies, perhaps for the first time after 2 to 3 years.

Asian stocks fell from record highs, posting the biggest weekly slump in seven months, amid a global rout that erased more than $1.5 trillion of stock market value.