Trading activity on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) crossed a major milestone in the first half (H1) of the year, with total equities dealings reaching N9.60 trillion.
In a remarkable display of market resilience and growing investor confidence in Nigeria, the record N9.60 trillion in equities trading in H1 to June 30 more than doubles the transaction values recorded during the same period in 2025, when it stood at N4.193trillion.
For over a decade, full-year trading values on the Nigerian exchange hovered between N1.5 trillion and N3.5 trillion. A single half-year total of N9.60 trillion significantly outperforms previous annual totals.
This record figure represents a multi-fold increase compared to historical H1 performances, underscoring liquidity levels that the market has never seen before.
This record-breaking liquidity at the Nigerian Exchange Limited in the first half of the year was primarily driven by banking recapitalisation which forced massive capital raising and trading activity in the review period; retail and institutional Nigerian investors who accounted for N8.448trillion (87.93 percent of total market activity) as against N1.160trillion or 12.07 percent by their foreign counterparts; and high-performing sectors, including industrial goods, energy, and consumer goods, which saw unprecedented buy-side momentum.
Driven by aggressive institutional buying, strong corporate performance, and heightened participation from local retail investors, the record-breaking H1 performance highlights a robust rally across key sectors.
Despite broader macroeconomic headwinds, the landmark turnover signals a deeply active capital market as investors reposition portfolios to capture long-term value.
Specifically, the proliferation of trillion-naira companies on the exchange—such as Dangote Cement, BUA Foods, BUA Cement, Airtel Africa, MTN Nigeria, and major tier-1 banks—greatly expanded market capitalisation and deal sizes. Notably, block trades and large institutional rebalancing in these high-cap stocks drastically inflated total transaction value.
On a monthly basis, the Nigerian Exchange Limited polls trading figures from market operators on their domestic and Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) flows.
As at June 30, total transactions at the nation’s bourse decreased by 11.82 percent from N1.9433 trillion (about $1.4151 billion) in May to N1.7136 trillion (about $1.2420 billion) in June.
The performance of the current month when compared to the performance in June 2025 (N778.7 billion) revealed that total transactions increased by 120.06 percent.
In June 2026, the total value of transactions executed by domestic investors outperformed transactions executed by foreign investors by circa 78 percent.
A further look at the total transactions executed between June and the prior month (May 2026) revealed that total domestic transactions decreased by 13.23 percent from N1.759 trillion in May 2026 to N1.526 trillion in June 2026.
However, total foreign transactions increased by 1.73 percent from N183.61 billion (about $133.71 million) to N186.79 billion (about $135.39 million) between May 2026 and June 2026.
Institutional investors outperformed retail investors by 30 percent. A comparison of domestic transactions in June and the prior month (May 2026) revealed that retail transactions decreased by 26.71 percent from N726.27 billion in May 2026 to N532.31 billion in June 2026. Meanwhile, the institutional composition of the domestic market decreased by 3.76 percent from N1.03337 trillion in May 2026 to N994.49 billion in June 2026.
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