Total transactions by foreign portfolio investors in the stock market have declined by 36.53 per cent, about N305.3 billion, as foreign portfolio outflows continued to outpace inflows. Total transactions at the stock market also dropped by 31.2 per cent, equivalent to N542 billion.
Official report on foreign and domestic portfolio transactions in the past seven months obtained at the weekend indicated that total foreign transactions dropped to N530.57 billion by last month, compared with N835.89 billion recorded by last year.
Foreign inflows had declined by 39.24 per cent from N400.48 billion by July 2018 to N243.35 billion by July, this year, representing a drop of N157.13 billion. Foreign outflows, however, also dropped from N435.41 billion to N287.22 billion.
The report showed a consecutive seven-month net portfolio deficit as foreign transactions tended more on sales than buys, leading to a net portfolio deficit of N43.87 billion for the seven-month period ended July 2019.
The report, coordinated by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), included transactions from nearly all custodians and capital market operators and it is widely regarded as a credible measure of foreign portfolio investment (FPI) trend.
