N316.19bn portfolio investment left Nigeria in eight months

Omobayo Azeez

A sum of N316.19 billion worth of investments has been repatriated by foreign investors through the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) from January to August this year.

Within the same period however, the local economy also received a sum of N278.27 billion via the same channel from portfolio investors around the world.

Latest report on foreign portfolio investment (FPI) for August 2019 just released by the management of the NSE indicated this.

On a monthly basis, the NSE polls trading figures from market operators on their domestic and FPI flows.

So far this year, portfolio investors repatriated N39.04 billion in January, N55.01 billion in February, N30.20 billion in March, N41.78 billion in April and N39.35 billion in May.

Similarly, N52.44 billion, N29.40 billion and N28.98 billion left the country in June, July and August respectively.

On the flip side, foreign investors brought in via the local bourse a sum of N27.81 billion in January, N43.93 billion in February, N25.89 billion in March, N35.14 billion and N37.90 billion in April and May in that order.

In addition, N44.30 billion off-shore money was invested in securities in Nigeria in June, while N28.38 billion and N34.92 billion arrived the country in July and August respectively.

As at 30 August 2019, total transactions at the nation’s bourse increased by 7.51 percent from N113.47 billion, an equivalent of $370.4 million in July 2019 to N121.99 billion which amounts to $398.0 million in August.

On a year-to-date (YtD) basis, the exchange transacted N1.323 trillion, 47.29 percent of which was attributable to trades by foreign investors while domestic investors were responsible for 52.71 per cent of the total stock value traded on the exchange.

Although, the market was more active within the same period of 8 months of the preceding year of 2018 with a total transaction value of N1.877 trillion.

Meanwhile, the value of transactions by foreign investors outweighed that of their local counterparts as the expatriates drove market by 52.38 percent or N63.90 billion in contrast with local investors’ N58.09 billion or 47.62 percent that was transacted in August.

Similarly, historical record of over a twelve 12-year period, spanning 2007 to 2018, shows that domestic transactions have declined by 66.68 percent from N3.556 trillion in 2007 to N1.185t in 2018 whilst foreign transactions increased by 97.88 percent from N616m to N1.219 trillion over the same period.

Also, the value of domestic transactions executed by Institutional investors outperformed retail investors by 8.00 percent, although, a comparison of domestic transactions in the current and prior month, July 2019, revealed that retail transactions decreased by 5.97 per cent from N25.44 billion in July to N23.92 billion last month.