Punch Domestic transactions in equities rise to - TopicsExpress

Punch Domestic transactions in equities rise to N775bn NOVEMBER 13, 2013 BY SIMON EJEMBI The total value of domestic transactions carried out by investors on the Nigerian Stock Exchange between January and September 30, 2013 stood at N775.77bn. The transactions for the first nine months of 2013 are already 52.53 per cent or N267.17bn higher than the N508.6bn reported for 2012. The latest figure represents 49.19 per cent of the total transactions made by both domestic and foreign portfolio investors in the period, according to data obtained from the NSE on Tuesday. Foreign portfolio investment accounted for the remaining 50.81 per cent with a total of N801.25bn. In January, domestic transactions had accounted for 63.11 per cent of total investment in equity, while foreign portfolio transactions accounted for 36.89 per cent. The NSE said while foreign portfolio investment appreciated within the period covered by 13 per cent to 49.9 per cent at the end of September, domestic transactions decreased by 13 per cent to 50.07 per cent of the total transactions in September. Domestic transactions are made up of both retail investments and institutional investments on the NSE and findings by our correspondent showed that institutional investors have been more active in terms of participation in equity trading. For instance, between January and May, domestic transactions on the Exchange stood at N457.11bn, with another N318.66bn added from June to September 30. Of the N318.66bn recorded in transactions from June to September, institutional investors accounted for 54.54 per cent (N173.81bn), while retail investors accounted for 45.46 per cent (N144.85bn). A retail investor, also known as an individual investor or a small investor, is one who buys and sells securities for his personal account and not for another company or organisation; while an institutional investor is a non-bank person or organisation that trades securities in large share quantities. The Chief Executive Officer, NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema, while commenting on domestic and foreign portfolio participation in equity trading, said although domestic investors had not been able to dominate transactions as they did in January, the level of participation by both foreign investors and their domestic counterparts had been on the rise. Onyema spoke to our correspondent on the sidelines of the inauguration of the FMDQ OTC platform in Lagos. He said, “The way I will characterise the differences between foreign and local participation is that both are actually going up if you look at the absolute numbers. However, the foreign participation led the recovery of the market – they came in faster, but the locals are now coming in.” With data for the last three months of 2013 yet to made available, total transactions made on the Exchange in the course of the year have surpassed the transactions for the whole of 2012. In 2012, total transactions stood at N1.317tn, while transactions worth N1.577tn have already been completed in 2013. While FPP for 2013 is on course to surpass that of 2012, it had yet to do so based on the figure as of September. In 2012, total foreign transactions stood at N808.4bn, but as of September 2013, it stood at N801.25bn, 0.88 per cent or N7.15bn short.