Foreign portfolio investment in the Nigerian stock market dropped by eight per cent in the first quarter of 2021 to N60.11bn from N65.27bn in the same period of 2020.

Foreign investors injected N16.73bn into the stock market in January; N23.02bn in February; and N20.36bn in March, according to the latest data from the Nigerian Exchange Limited.

The data also showed that foreign portfolio investors sold Nigerian stocks worth N90.12bn in the first quarter while domestic investors withdrew N248.94bn from the market.

Foreign portfolio investment outflow includes sales transactions or liquidation of portfolio investments through the stock market, while the FPI inflow includes purchase transactions on the exchange (equities only).

The market capitalisation of equities fell by N230bn in Q1 2021 from N20.66tn at the end of December 2020 to N20.43tn on March 31, 2021, data from the Nigerian Exchange Limited showed.