Local investors flood NGX with record N10.68trn in seven months

Domestic investors have driven a record N10.68 trillion in transactions on the Nigerian Exchange in the first seven months of 2026, surpassing the entire N9.27 trillion recorded in 2025 and tightening local control of the country’s stock market as foreign participation remains subdued.

The NGX Domestic and Foreign Portfolio Investment Report for July 2026 showed that domestic transactions accounted for 89.21 per cent of total market activity year-to-date, compared with just 10.79 per cent for foreign investors.

The N10.68 trillion domestic turnover already exceeds the full-year 2025 figure by N1.41 trillion, or 15.21 per cent, underscoring the growing influence of Nigerian investors in driving market liquidity and supporting the equities rally.

Foreign transactions, by contrast, stood at only N1.29 trillion in the first seven months of 2026, representing 10.79 per cent of total market activity and less than half of the N2.65 trillion recorded throughout 2025.

The widening gap points to a significant shift in the structure of Nigeria’s capital market, with local investors increasingly cushioning the impact of weaker foreign portfolio flows.

The NGX said domestic participation had expanded significantly over the past 19 years.

Domestic transactions rose from N3.56 trillion in 2007 to N9.27 trillion in 2025, representing a 160.83 per cent increase, while foreign transactions rose from N620 billion to N2.65 trillion over the same period.

In 2025, domestic investors accounted for about 78 per cent of total market transactions, with foreign investors contributing 22 per cent.

The acceleration in local participation has been particularly pronounced in recent years.

Domestic transactions increased from N980 billion in 2019 to N1.43 trillion in 2020 and N1.46 trillion in 2021 before accelerating significantly in subsequent years.

The biggest jump came between 2024 and 2025, when domestic transactions nearly doubled from N4.73 trillion to N9.27 trillion.

The trend has intensified in 2026, with seven-month domestic turnover already surpassing the previous full-year record.

Foreign investor activity, meanwhile, has continued to weaken.

In May, foreign transactions fell 25.9 per cent month-on-month to N183.61 billion from N247.78 billion in April, while the foreign share of total market activity dropped to 9 per cent.

The weaker offshore participation comes despite the NGX’s strong performance this year, suggesting that the recent rally has been increasingly supported by domestic rather than foreign capital.

For investors, the shift has both positive and structural implications. Higher local participation can provide more stable liquidity and reduce the market’s dependence on foreign portfolio flows, which are typically more sensitive to global interest rates, exchange-rate movements and emerging-market risk.

However, the growing dominance of domestic investors also underscores the importance of developing deeper institutional pools of local capital to sustain the market over the long term.

NGX Group Chief Executive Officer, Temi Popoola, recently projected that the market capitalisation of listed companies could reach N230 trillion by the end of 2026, up from about N160 trillion currently.

He said listed market value had risen from roughly N30 trillion in May 2023 to about N160 trillion, supported by stronger investor participation, market reforms and expectations of major new listings.

The latest transaction data suggest that domestic investors are increasingly becoming the primary engine of Nigeria’s equities market, helping to offset weaker foreign participation while providing the liquidity needed to support further market expansion.

The challenge now is whether this surge in local participation can be sustained and translated into deeper long-term investment rather than short-term trading activity.