NGX: Foreign, domestic transactions in equity market dropped to N379bn in August

The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) says the total transactions in the equity market dropped to N379.52 billion in August.

NGX said the figure represents a decline of N112.09 billion compared to the N491.61 billion reported in July.

In its ‘Domestic & Foreign Portfolio Investment Report’ on Tuesday, NGX said domestic transactions accounted for N322.05 billion and foreign transactions recorded N57.47 billion.

“As at 31 August 2024, total transactions at the nation’s bourse decreased significantly by 22.80% from N491.61 billion (about $305.02 million) in July 2024 to N379.52 billion (about $237.70 million) in August 2024,” NGX said.

“The performance of the current month when compared to the performance in August 2023 (N262.56 billion) revealed that total transactions increased by 44.55%.

“In August 2024, the total value of transactions executed by Domestic Investors outperformed transactions executed by foreign investors by circa 70%.”

NGX said domestic investors accounted for 85 percent or N322.05 billion in August 2024 transactions compared to N434.09 billion recorded in July 2024 — representing a decrease of 25.81 percent. 

On the other hand, NGX said foreign transactions decreased marginally.

“Similarly, total foreign transactions decreased marginally by 0.09% from N57.52 billion (about $35.69 million) to N57.47 billion (about $35.99 million) between July 2024 and August 2024,” the bourse said.

Further analysis showed foreign inflow dropped to N33.09 billion in August, from N37.57 billion reported the previous month.

However, foreign outflow rose from N19.95 billion in July to N24.38 billion in August.

Giving an analysis of the domestic transactions, NGX said retail investors outperformed institutional investors by 12 percent in the period under review, as the former accounted for 56 percent of the total domestic transactions, while the latter accounted for 44 percent.

“A comparison of domestic transactions in the current month and prior month (July 2024) revealed that retail transactions decreased by 33.54% from N271.92 billion in July 2024 to N180.72 billion in August 2024.”

NGX added that the institutional composition of the domestic market decreased by 12.85 percent from N162.17 billion in July 2024 to N141.33 billion in August 2024.