Yesterday the calm broke. The Nifty fell 516 points, or 2.12 percent, to close at 23882, its worst day in weeks, with only 4 of 50 stocks green. The Sensex fell 1677 points to 76503, down 2.15 percent. The fear index, India VIX, jumped almost 25 percent in a single day to 14.54, after sitting near 11 all week. When VIX moves like that, option prices rise and daily swings get bigger.

The reason was oil. Brent crude jumped almost 5 percent to 77.67 dollars on an Iran and Hormuz supply scare, and the world sold off with it. Korea fell 5.65 percent, Japan 2.15 percent, and Europe closed deep red. The rupee slipped to 95.56. The 24000 support every desk had defended all week did not hold, and the Nifty went all the way down to 23805.

But here is the twist, and it is in the flow data. On that red day, foreign funds bought a net 1,962.80 cro ...