NGX: Foreign investments worth N311bn liquidated in six months

The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) says N540.48 billion worth of foreign transactions were recorded between January and June 2024.

NGX, in a report titled ‘Domestic & Foreign Portfolio Investment’ on Wednesday, said foreign transactions increased compared to N145.08 billion reported in the first half (H1) of 2023.

Breaking down the foreign transactions, the stock market authority said foreign investors liquidated more portfolio investments in the capital market than they purchased within the six months in review.

According to NGX, of the total foreign transactions, N311.41 billion worth of portfolio investments were liquidated in H1 of this year, compared to a foreign outflow of N73.06 billion recorded in the corresponding period in 2023.

However, foreign investment inflow accounted for N229.07 billion in H1 2024, against N72.02 billion reported in the same period last year.

The Nigerian bourse further said it recorded a total transaction of N2.06 trillion from domestic investors in H1 2024.

This brought the total worth of domestic and foreign transactions in H1 2024 to N2.60 trillion as of June 31.

According to the report, domestic investors accounted for 79.25 percent of 2024 H1 transactions compared to 90 percent reported in the corresponding period last year.

NGX also said foreign transactions accounted for 20.75 percent of the total transactions in H1 2024, compared to 10 percent in H1 2023.

NGX TRANSACTIONS DROP MONTH-ON-MONTH

NGX said as of June 30, total transactions decreased marginally by 0.23 percent from N355.38 billion (about $239.56 million) in May to N354.55 billion (about $241.06 million) in June.

“The performance of the current month when compared to the performance in June 2023 (N406.75 billion) revealed that total transactions decreased by 12.83%,” the report reads.

“In June 2024, the total value of transactions executed by domestic investors outperformed transactions executed by foreign investors by circa 54%.”

NGX also provided highlights of the performance of the market over the last decade. 

“Over a seventeen (17) year period, domestic transactions decreased by 10.94% from N3.556 trillion in 2007 to N3.167 trillion in 2023; whilst foreign transactions also decreased by 33.28% from N616 billion to N411 billion over the same period,” NGX said.

“Total domestic transactions accounted for about 89% of the total transactions carried out in 2023, whilst foreign transactions accounted for about 11% of the total transactions in the same period.”

Giving further analysis on a month-on-month basis, the Nigerian bourse said domestic institutional investors (58 percent) outperformed retail investors (42 percent) by 16 percent. 

The firm said between May and June 2024, the retail transactions increased by 0.43 percent from N113.53 billion to N114.02 billion.

NGX added that the institutional composition of the domestic market increased significantly by 34.68 percent from N117.57 billion in May to N158.34 billion in June.