The Nigerian Exchange Limited experienced a sharp decline in trading activity in February 2025, with total transactions dropping by 16.07% to N509.47 billion from N607.05 billion in January.
The decline was largely driven by a significant withdrawal of foreign investors, whose transactions fell by 40.36%, from N71.51 billion to N42.65 billion during the month.
Data from the NGX’s Domestic and Foreign Portfolio Investment Report, released on Monday, revealed a 29.67% drop in foreign inflows to N18.05 billion from N25.66 billion in January. Foreign outflows also declined by 46.33% to N24.60 billion from N45.85 billion.
This decline in foreign participation reduced their overall share of trading to 8.37%, down from 11.78% in January, reinforcing the continued dominance of domestic investors in the equities market.
On the flip side, domestic investors maintained their dominance, accounting for 91.63% of total market transactions. However, their trading volume declined by 12.83%, dropping from N535.54 billion in January to N466.82 billion in February.
A breakdown of domestic transactions showed that retail investors contributed N214.51 billion, down 19.76% from N267.35 billion in January, while institutional investors accounted for N252.31 billion, a 5.92% decline from N268.19 billion in the previous month.
On a Year-to-date basis, total transactions for the first two months of 2025 reached N1.12 trillion, with domestic investors contributing N1 trillion (89.78%) and foreign investors accounting for N114.16 billion (10.22%).
This marks a 10.62% increase in market activity compared to the same period in 2024, which recorded N1.01 trillion in total transactions.
However, foreign participation has continued to decline, dropping from 11.78% in 2024 to 10.22% in 2025.
