Foreign investors dump Nigerian stocks worth N187bn in Q1

Foreign investors offloaded Nigerian stocks worth N186.6 billion in the first three months of this year.

The investors withdrew N46.5 billion from the Nigerian stock market in January; N52.37 billion in February and N87.73 billion in March, according to data from the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

The foreign portfolio outflow in Q1 2020 showed a 50.19 percent increase over the N124.24 billion that was withdrawn in the same period in 2019 largely because of concerns about the country’s general elections.

Foreign inflow into the stock market stood at N65.27 billion in Q1 2020, compared to N97.63 billion in Q1 2019.

Foreign investors withdrew N23.81 billion in January, N18.97 billion in February and N22.49 billion in March.

The participation of foreign investors in the market dropped to 40.18 percent in Q1 2020 from 52.79 per cent in the same period a year ago, while that of domestic investors rose 59.82 percent from 47.21 percent.

Total transactions at the nation’s bourse increased by 63.58 per cent from N148.50 billion (about $484.60 million) in February to N242.91 billion (about $630.04 million) in March.

“In March 2020, the total value of transactions executed by domestic investors outperformed transactions executed by foreign investors by about 10 percent,” the NSE said in a new report.

A further analysis revealed that total domestic transactions increased by 71.97 percent from N77.16 billion in February to N132.69 billion in March.

Total foreign transactions increased by 54.50 percent from N71.34 billion (about $232.79 million) in February to N110.22 billion (about $285.89 million) in March.

The value of domestic transactions executed by institutional investors outperformed retail investors by 10 percent, according to the NSE.

Retail transactions increased significantly by 103.72 per cent from N29.56 billion in February to N60.22 billion in March.

“Similarly, the institutional composition of the domestic market increased by 52.23 percent from N47.60 billion in February 2020 to N72.46 billion in March 2020,” the bourse added.

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