Activity on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) has accelerated sharply this year, with total transactions in the first eight months of 2026 jumping 91.5 per cent to N13.25 trillion from N6.92 trillion in the same period of 2025. This significant increase is largely attributed to domestic capital, with domestic transactions more than doubling from N5.46 trillion in the corresponding period of last year. The growth in domestic transactions has led to a substantial increase in their share of total market transactions.
Domestic transactions rose to N11.89 trillion between January and August, representing 89.77 percent of total market transactions, while foreign investors accounted for N1.35 trillion, or 10.23 percent. This marks a significant shift from the same period last year, when domestic transactions accounted for 78.99 percent and foreign participation made up 21.01 percent. The increase in domestic transactions has been driven by institutional investors, who accounted for N7.36 trillion of domestic transactions between January and August.
Institutional investors are leading the domestic charge, with their transactions increasing substantially from N3.13 trillion in the same period of 2025. Retail investors also contributed to the growth, with their transactions rising from N2.33 trillion to N4.53 trillion. The scale of domestic activity this year has already surpassed the level recorded for the whole of 2025, when domestic transactions stood at N9.27 trillion. This significant growth indicates a shift towards domestic investment in the Nigerian Exchange.
The growth in domestic transactions has been accompanied by a decline in foreign participation. Foreign transactions, which stood at N2.65 trillion for the whole of 2025, amounted to N1.35 trillion in the first eight months of this year. This decline has resulted in foreign investors accounting for a smaller share of total market transactions. Despite this, August transactions were 39.75 percent higher than the N908.4 billion recorded in the same month last year.
Trading activity slowed sharply in August, with total transactions falling 46.38 percent to N1.27 trillion from N2.37 trillion in the previous month. This decline was driven by a decrease in domestic transactions, which fell 45.98 percent month-on-month to N1.21 trillion. Foreign transactions also dropped 53.23 percent to N62.03 billion. Despite the decline, domestic investors continued to dominate the market, accounting for 95.11 percent of transactions in August.
The slowdown in trading activity was more pronounced among institutional investors, whose transactions fell 60.39 percent to N654.61 billion from N1.65 trillion in July. Retail transactions declined by a much smaller 5.08 percent to N552.88 billion. This indicates that institutional investors were more affected by the decline in trading activity. The NGX data shows that domestic investors have become an increasingly important source of liquidity.
According to NGX data, domestic investors have become a crucial source of liquidity, with transactions rising from N3.56 trillion in 2007 to N9.27 trillion in 2025 before climbing to N11.89 trillion in the first eight months of 2026. This growth highlights the increasing importance of domestic investors in driving market activity on the Nigerian Exchange.
Key points
- Domestic investors drove 89.77% of NGX transactions between January and August 2026.
- Foreign investors' share of NGX transactions dropped to 10.23% in the first eight months of 2026.
- Institutional investors led the domestic charge, accounting for N7.36 trillion of domestic transactions.
