Stock: More troubles as foreign investors withdraw investments

There is strong indication that foreign investors who used to transact larger percentage of activities in the Nigerian stock market have been withdrawing their investments from the market.

Many analysts attributed the foreign investors’ actions to unfavourable condition of foreign exchange currency.

Foreign investors who used to dominate trading in the Nigerian stock market transacted 51.57 per cent of total market activities in January 2016, down to 36.48 per cent at the end of February trading.

According to the Nigerian Stock Exchange polls trading figures from major custodians and market operators on their Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) flows for the month of February, foreign investors withdrew N31.84 billion during the month against N10.94 billion invested in Nigeria market.

The percentage of transactions of foreign investors in February was 36.48 per cent compared to 74.49 per cent of domestic investors.

Total transaction on the bourse during the month stood at N117.27 billion as against N184.49 billion total transaction carried out in January.

However, domestic investors transacted N74.49 billion in February as institutional investors led with N38.25 billion while domestic investors transacted N36.24 billion. This is higher than N40.73 billion total transactions of domestic investors in January 2016 as retail investors transacted N18.88 billion as against N21.85 billion of institutional investors in January.

Meanwhile, total transactions at the nation’s bourse increased by 39.44 per cent from N84.10 billion recorded in January 2016 to N117.27 billion in February 2016. In comparison to the same period in 2015, total transactions decreased by 36.44 per cent from the N184.49 billion recorded in February 2015. 

 

Domestic investors significantly outperformed foreign investors by 27.04 per cent. Domestic transactions increased from 48.43 per cent in January 2016 to 63.52 per cent in February 2016 while FPI transactions decreased from 51.57 per cent to 36.48 per cent over the same period.