Foreign investors regain control of equities transactions

Foreign investors at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) regained control of equities transaction in February 2014, recording N136.28billion worth of deal.

This is compared to N62.42billion worth of domestic transactions in the review month.

As a result, in February 2014, foreign investors accounted for 68.59% of equities transaction at the Exchange while domestic investors accounted for 31.41%.

In the preceding month of January 2014, domestic investors’ deals worth N92.30billion outperformed that of foreigners valued at N89.67billion.

Trading figures polled by the Nigerian Stock Exchange from major custodians and market operators on their foreign portfolio investments (FPI) show significant increase in FPI outflows in February compared to January and the same period last year.

The outflows in February are about 107% higher compared to January 2014 and about 183% when compared to February 2013.

Total domestic transactions decreased by 32.37% from January to February 2014. The institutional composition of the domestic market which was about 46.80% at the end of January increased to 50.58% at the end of February while the retail composition decreased from 53.20% to 49.42% in the same period.

According to the broker dealer regulation department of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, “FPI transactions which accounted for 49.28 % at the beginning of the year, increased significantly to 68.59% at the end of February 2014. In contrast, domestic transactions decreased significantly from 50.72% to 31.41% over the same period.”

“However, this represents an overall increase of 9.19% in total transactions, broken down into a 51.98% increase in FPI transactions and a 32.37% decrease in domestic transactions. In comparison to the same period in 2013, there was a significant increase in total FPI by 45.90%, whilst the total domestic transactions reduced by 46.02%. However, the FPI outflows outpaced inflows which were the reverse when compared to the same period in 2013. Overall, there was a 3.71% increase in total transactions in comparison to the same period in 2013,” the NSE stated.