Foreign investments in stocks now N801bn — NSE

The total amount of money spent by
foreign investors on Nigerian securities
between the first and the third quarters
(January to September 2013) of this
year stands at N801.25bn.
This amount comprises the inflows and
outflows of Foreign Portfolio
Investments for the period under
review.
Statistics provided by the Nigerian Stock
Exchange and calculated by our
correspondent on Friday showed that
between January and March 2013, the
foreign transactions totalled N217.57bn,
representing 42.7 per cent of the
N510.1bn worth of transactions
recorded in the first three months of
the year.
For April to June, a total of N365.07bn
worth of foreign transactions was
recorded, while for the months of July
to September the total amount of FPIs
in the NSE stood at N218.61bn.
The amount invested between July and
September was significantly higher than
the N217.57bn that was recorded at the
end of the first quarter in March.
This means that the FPI transactions
which started at 36.9 per cent at the
beginning of the year, increased to 49.9
per cent at the end of September 2013
representing an increase of 13 per cent.
The report put the total inflows of FPI
for the month of September at
N26.14bn, representing a decline over
N31.12bn in inflows recorded at the end
of August. The total outflow in
September was N27.88bn, lower than
N39.76bn recorded in July 2013.
The FPI represents the passive holdings
of securities and other financial assets,
which may not entail active
management or control of the
securities' issuer. It is usually positively
influenced by high rates of return and
reduction of risk through geographic
diversification.The return on FPI is
normally in the form of interest
payments or non-voting dividends.
Chief Executive Officer of the NSE, Mr.
Oscar Onyema, said foreign investors
had continually been showing interest in
the Nigerian market due to the various
reforms carried out in the exchange in
the last few years.
He added that the reforms had
impacted positively on the market
thereby attracting foreign investors who
were usually on the watch for strong
emerging markets to invest in.
He said, "Increasingly, these visitors are
drawn to Nigeria for leisure and
business purposes and, there is great
potential for expanding the numbers.
Indeed, most of the visitors have
established Nigeria as a leading
destination for business, investment and
human capital for both local and foreign
clients.
"Last year, the NSE recorded a local
participation of 44 per cent, while
foreign participation accounted for 56
per cent of activities in the same year.
The rally we saw in the market in 2012
was on the back of foreign
investments."
The Executive Director Market
Operations and Technology at the
Exchange, Mr. Ade Bajomo, said with
recent efforts by the regulators to
improve the trading platform, there
were pointers to show even more
participation by foreign investors in the
coming months.
He said, "The NSE seeks to transform its
electronic trading environment through
the use of innovative trading
technologies.
"With the inauguration of our new
trading platform, the X-GEN and market
data initiative, the adoption of the
Financial Information Exchange Protocol
has become necessary to position the
Nigerian bourse favourably within the
financial global village."
He added that this was an essential tool
that would facilitate the growth of
online trading for retail investors using
their smart phones and any other
computing device to trade transparently
and easily from anywhere and anytime,
thereby improving the experience of
doing business in the Nigerian capital
market.
Source: punchng