Domestic Investors Invest N374.98 in Stock Market in Q1 2020

• Domestic Investors Invest N374.98 in Stock Market in Q1 2020

More domestic investors are taking advantage of the prevalent low prices in the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), according to the latest report on Domestic & Foreign Portfolio Investment.

The report published by the exchange on Wednesday showed domestic investors invested N374.98 billion in the three months ended March 31, 2020.

A breakdown of the report revealed that a total sum of N165.14 billion was invested in January, while N77.16 billion and N132.69 billion were invested in February and March, respectively.

Further analysis indicated that domestic retail investors invested a combined N171.45 billion in the first quarter of the year, up from N98.1 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2019. A total of N81.69 billion was invested in January, N29.56 billion was added in February and N60.23 billion in March.

Similarly, investment by domestic institutions rose from N100.29 billion in the first quarter of 2019 to N203.53 billion in the same quarter of 2020.

However, investment from foreign investors declined from N97.63 billion achieved in the first quarter of 2019 to N65.27 billion in the first quarter of 2020. Highlighting the impact of COVID-19 on the bourse and the economy at large.

While the total amount withdrew by foreign investors from the stock market during the period under review rose from N124.24 billion in the corresponding quarter of 2019 to N186.6 billion. The very reason the central bank devalued the Naira to slow down the surge in capital flight.

“The value of domestic transactions executed by Institutional Investors outperformed Retail Investors by 10 percent. A comparison of domestic transactions in the current and prior month (February 2020) revealed that retail transactions increased significantly by 103.72 percent from N29.56 billion in February 2020 to N60.22 billion in March 2020,” the report stated.

“Similarly, the institutional composition of the domestic market increased by 52.23 percent from N47.60 billion in February 2020 to N72.46 billion in March 2020.”