Foreign outflows from Nigeria’s stock market has increased from N27.81 billion in January to N55.01 billion in February 2019. This represents a 97.80 percent increment.
This information is contained in the Nigerian Stock Exchange‘s latest Domestic and Foreign Portfolio Investment Report, which was published on the NSE website last week. In the report, the NSE also disclosed that foreign inflows increased by 91.24 percent from N22.97 billion to N43.93 billion in the period under review.
Further analysis of the data
The total value of transactions executed by foreign investors outperformed those executed by domestic investors by 6 percent.
A further analysis of the transactions executed between January and February revealed that total foreign transactions increased by 48 percent from N66.85 billion in January to N98.94 billion in February.
The value of the total transactions executed in the domestic market by institutional investors outperformed retail investors by eight percent.
As of February 28, total transactions at the nation’s bourse increased by 54.06 percent from N122.08 billion recorded in January to N188.08 billion in February.
Meanwhile, it is pertinent to note that the total transactions in this data were executed by domestic and foreign investors. Domestic investors were further categorised into retail and institutional investors.
Total retail transactions increased by 38.26 percent from N29.66 billion in January 2019 to N41.01 billion in February. The institutional composition of the domestic market also increased significantly by 88.15 percent from N25.58 billion in January to N48.13 billion in February 2019, indicating higher participation by institutional investors over their retail counterparts in February.
Understanding the data
The NSE’s Domestic and Foreign Portfolio Investment Report is prepared on a monthly basis, with trading figures from market operators on their Domestic and Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) flows.
These transactions are carried out by Domestic and Foreign investors.
However, the surge in foreign outflow can be largely attributed to the political climate of the country as Nigeria just concluded her general elections.