Domestic investors execute N562.15 bn equities transactions in 30 days

The total domestic transactions executed between April and May surged by 214.4 per cent  to N562.15 billion from N178.8 billion while the total foreign transactions rose 67.28 per cent to N45.3 billion from N27.08 billion in May, according to the newly published report on domestic and foreign portfolio participation in equities trading by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX).

From the trading figures polled by the NGX from market operators, institutional investors maintained their performance ahead of their retail counterparts by 74 per cent as the report revealed that the institutional composition of the domestic market increased by 341.27 per cent from N110.58 billion in April to N487.96 billion while retail transactions surged 8.75 per cent to N74.19 billion from N68.22 billion during the month.

“Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors have largely exited Nigeria resulting from FX liquidity issues, leading to a backlog of delayed external payments which is estimated by the World Bank at around $1.7 billion.

“Nevertheless, we have in recent days in June, seen the equities market slip into a bearish pattern as investors continue to take profits off the market in light of the recent Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) rate hike.

“In our opinion, this has created an attractive buying opportunity for investors as we approach the half-year earnings and dividend season in the equities market,” dealers at Cowry Assets Management Limited stated.

The report further showed that total equities market transactions increased by 195.05 per cent to N607.45 billion in May 2022 from N205.88 billion in the previous month.

When compared to May 2021, the result shows that total transactions increased by over 500 per cent (525.01per cent) year-on-yea from N97.19 billion.

Further analysis of the data shows that this is the highest trading figure recorded in a month since 2007 and brings the year-to-date transaction to N1.51 trillion under five months.