The total transactions by foreign and domestic investors at the Nigerian stock market increased to N2.7 trillion in the first four months of 2025, making it the highest transaction by investors in the period.
The latest trading report at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) showed that total transactions in the stock market gained 43.3 per cent when compared to N1.89 trillion in the first four months of 2024.
The “domestic & foreign portfolio participation in equity trading” in the first four months of 2025 performance represented a new record for the stock market, driven by domestic investors’ transactions dominating amid steady growth in foreign transactions.
Foreign Portfolio Investments (FPIs) now account for more than one-third of transactions in the Nigerian market, as against the situation in the previous year when foreign transactions amounted to about one-seventh of the market’s transactions.
The latest report showed that total foreign portfolio transactions moved to N877.12 billion in the first four months of 2025, representing an increase of 162.6 per cent from N334.01 billion in the first four months of 2025.
The proportion of participation by FPIs increased from 13.77 per cent in the first four months of 2024 to 32.32 per cent in the first four months of 2025, the highest so far.
The CBN recently implemented significant reforms in the foreign exchange market aimed at enhancing transparency, compliance, and market stability.
These reforms are part of the CBN’s broader strategy to create a fairer, more stable FX market and support economic growth through better monetary policies.
In tandem with these reforms, the CBN so far in 2025 has maintained the status quo on the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), to curb inflation and stabilise the naira, a move supported by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Analysts stated that the Nigerian stock market shows less volatility signs amid a new era of unpredictability, marked by tariff threats and rising global tensions, that may prompt emerging market investors to look for shelter in frontier markets that are relatively safe from US President Donald Trump’s trade policy shifts.
On the flip side, domestic investors have also shown sustained strong appetite for quoted stocks with a transaction of N1.84 trillion in the first four months of 2025 as against N1.56 trillion in the first four months of 2024, representing an increase of 17.7 per cent.
The proportion of domestic investors’ transactions however dropped from 86.23 per cent of total market turnover in the first four months of 2024 to 67.68 per cent in the first four months of 2025, attributable to foreign investors closing the gap.
The report indicated upbeat across the buy and sell sides of foreign transactions.
Foreign inflows jumped to N420.3 billion in the first four months of 2025, about a 209 per cent increase over the figures in the first four months of 2024.
Outflows, on the other hand, increased by 130.64 per cent from N119.81 billion in the first four months of 2024 to N457 billion in the first four months of 2025
Capital market analysts attributed the upbeat at the stock market to the increasing attractiveness of the Nigerian market to foreign investors, ongoing economic reforms, resilient earnings by Nigerian companies, exchange rate differential, ongoing banking recapitalisation, and the reform in the oil sector.
FPI transactions at the NGX had more than doubled from N410.62 billion in 2023 to N852.03 billion in 2024. The increase in foreign transactions supported resilient domestic demand to push NGX to its highest-ever turnover of N5.587 trillion in 2024. It had recorded N3.578 trillion in 2023.
Analysts stated that the Nigerian stock market shows less volatility signs amid a new era of unpredictability, marked by tariff threats and rising global tensions, that may prompt emerging market investors to look for shelter in frontier markets that are relatively safe from US President Donald Trump’s trade policy shifts.
Kayode Tokede
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