Foreigners are doubling down on Nigeria’s stock market as international deal volumes hit a 19-year high of N2.65 trillion in 2025.
This surge represents a 329.87% increase since 2007, when foreign transactions sat at a modest N616 billion. The data highlights a shift in how global investors view Nigeria’s value proposition, largely credited to the liberalisation of the foreign exchange (FX) market and attractive yields in the banking and energy sectors.
As foreign investors accounted for about 22 percent of total market activity in 2025, the NGX solidified its status as a premier destination for frontier market capital, balancing a dominant domestic base with a rapidly growing international appetite.
Over a 19-year period, domestic transactions on the Nigerian stock market increased significantly by 160.83 percent. Domestic transaction which stood at N3.556 trillion in 2007 rose to N9.275 trillion in 2025. Also, foreign transactions increased significantly in the same period by 329.87 percent from 2007 low of N616billion to N2.648 trillion in 2025.
Total domestic transactions accounted for about 78 percent of the total transactions carried out in 2025, while foreign transactions accounted for about 22 percent of the total transactions in the same period.
Nigeria’s capital market entered 2026 with an explosive performance, signalling a new era of investor confidence. The market’s return this year has reached 26 percent.
“Looking ahead, market sentiment is expected to remain cautiously optimistic, underpinned by sustained demand for fundamentally strong large- and mid-cap stocks. With most companies having released their FY 2025 earnings, the market’s focus is likely to shift toward dividend declarations and corporate actions, which could continue to drive selective positioning,” Coronation research analysts said on Monday February 23.
The value of stock deals in January surged by 41.99percent year-on-year (YoY), reaching N861.97 billion. Also in January 2026, NGX transaction data show that total domestic transactions stood higher at N747.8 billion, while total foreign transactions stood at N114.1 billion.
NGX report shows that as at January 31, total transactions at the nation’s bourse decreased by 37.55 percent from N1.3804 trillion (about $961.45 million) in December 2025 to N862 trillion (about $621.67 million) in January 2026.
Meanwhile the performance of the review month when compared to the performance in January 2025 (N607.1billion) revealed that total transactions increased by 41.99percent. In January 2026, the total value of transactions executed by domestic investors outperformed transactions executed by foreign investors by circa 74 percent.
The total transactions executed between January and prior month (December 2025) revealed that total domestic transactions decreased by 18.92 percent from N922.31 billion in December 2025 to N747.83 billion in January 2026. Also, total foreign transactions decreased significantly by 75.08 percent from N458.09 billion (about $319.05 million) to N114.14 billion (about $82.32 million) between December 2025 and January 2026. This sharp decline was primarily due to the absence of the block trades that had substantially boosted foreign transaction figures in December 2025, according to the NGX.
Institutional investors outperformed retail investors marginally by 4 percent in January. A comparison of domestic transactions in the review and prior month (December 2025) revealed that retail transactions increased by 12.92 percent from N318.69 billion in December 2025 to N359.86 billion in January 2026. However, the institutional composition of the domestic market decreased by 35.73 percent from N603.62 billion in December 2025 to N387.97 billion in January 2026.
The market’s bull run has been anchored by a historic milestone: the market capitalisation decisively crossed the N125 trillion threshold for the first time, driven by aggressive bargain-hunting in large-cap financial stocks and renewed interest in the oil and gas sector. Also, the NGX ASI has risen above 196,000-mark.
“We expect the positive momentum in the equity market to persist, supported by strong year-to-date performance and improving investor sentiment. However, given the recent sharp gains, some profit-taking may emerge, leading to more selective buying, particularly in fundamentally sound stocks across the Oil & Gas, Industrial Goods and Banking sectors,” according to Lagos-based United Capital analysts.
Despite the broader economic structural changes, the surge in activity reflects a robust appetite for domestic equities, positioning the NGX as one of the world’s top-performing markets for return on investment this year.
