Domestic investors on the Nigerian Exchange Limited reduced their trades by a massive N932bn in August, dragging down the overall value of transactions on the local bourse.
According to the Nigerian Exchange’s Domestic and Foreign Portfolio Investment Report for August 2025, total domestic participation fell by 55.87 per cent, from N1.669tn in July to N736.57bn in August.
The sharp decline was largely attributed to the absence of block trades, which had significantly boosted volumes in the previous month. The fall in domestic activity also weighed on the broader market.
Overall transactions dropped 49.95 per cent month-on-month, from N1.815tn in July to N908.38bn in August. Despite the steep drop, activity in August was still much stronger than the same period last year.
Compared with N379.52bn in August 2024, the August 2025 figure represented a 139.35 per cent increase. A breakdown of the August report showed that institutional investors were the main drivers of the slump.
Their trades plunged 65.91 per cent, sliding from N1.152tn in July to N392.9bn in August. Retail investors also pulled back but less drastically, with transactions declining 33.46 per cent, from N516.5bn in July to N343.67bn in August.
