Foreign investors, alarmed by the economic and political risks in the country in the wake of the recent general elections, pulled out N29.19 billion from the Nigerian Stock Exchange in March, 2015.
The figure represents 31.77 per cent increase on the N81.60 billion foreign portfolio investment (FPI) outflow from the stock market in the previous month, February.
Activities of FPI outflows, which outpaced inflows in the first quarter, showed that in January, the outflows stood at N51.08 billion, went up to N81.60 billion in February and declined back to N52.41 billion in March.
Also, the domestic transactions at the nation’s bourse, which was N50.54 billion at the end of February 2015, increased to N81.46 billion at the end of March 2015, up 61.18 per cent.
Domestic investors conceded about 11.46 per cent of trading to foreign investors as foreign transactions decreased from 72.61 per cent to 55.73 per cent while domestic transactions increased from 27.39 per cent to 44.27 per cent over the same period.
According to capital market analysts, the exit of foreign investors from the equities market in the first quarter was as a result of uncertainty in the economic and political state of the country. They believed that with the peaceful election there has been a return of foreign investors to the market.
“Foreign investors were sceptical on the Nigerian markets starting late last year, unnerved by political uncertainty before the vote as well as the sharp fall in the global price of oil which negatively impacted the currency, triggering devaluation in November,” they said.
The chief executive officer, Highcap Securities Limited, Mr David Adonri, explained that the sustained sell-off and outflow was as a result of the unexpected continued decline in the prices of crude oil in the international market and increasing political risks in the country.
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