In five months to May 31, foreign portfolio investors (FPI) in show of less interest in the Nigerian equity market could not allow their monies stay longer in stocks.
Except for April, the capital exit seen in other months resulted in a huge N198.74billion which they took out of the stock market in the review five-month period as against N177.32billion they brought in, representing capital gain of N21.42billion.
Out of N790.31billion worth of equities transactions done at the Nigerian Bourse in the review period, foreign portfolio investors accounted for only N376.05billion, while N414.25billion worth of equity transactions were done by local investors.
This is revealed in the trading figures from market operators on their Domestic and Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) flows polled by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
In January 2019, foreign investors brought in N27.81billion and exited with N39.04billion; while in February, foreign investors inflow into the Nigerian stock market was valued at N43.93billion against N55.01billion which the exited with.
This trend continued in March when their inflow into the stock market was just N25.89billion, but they succeeded in taking away N30.20billion.
Further check in April, foreign inflow was N41.78billion while its corresponding outflow was N35.14billion. Just last month (May), N37.90billion worth of foreign monies were invested in the stock market while these investors left the market same month with N39.35billion.
In the five months period, Nigerian stock investors outperformed foreign investors accounting for 51.02 percent and 48.98percent, respectively.
Foreign transactions which stood at N1.539trillion in 2014 declined to N1.219trillion in 2018. Over a 12 year period, domestic transactions decreased by 66.68percent, from N3.556trillion in 2007 to N1.185trillion in 2018.
Total foreign transactions accounted for about 51 percent of the total transactions carried out in 2018, whilst domestic transactions accounted for about 49 percent of the total transactions in the same period.
Iheanyi Nwachukwu
