NGX: Transactions in equity market dropped by 35% to N346bn in April

The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited says total transactions on the stock market decreased from N538.54 billion ($404.69 million) in March to N346.23 billion ($260.24 million) in April.

NGX disclosed this in its domestic and foreign portfolio investment report for April.

On a monthly basis, the exchange said it polls trading figures from market operators on their domestic and foreign portfolio investment (FPI) flows. 

According to the report, the current figure represents a 35.71 percent decline.

“As at 30 April 2024, total transactions at the nation’s bourse decreased by 35.71% from N538.54billion (about $404.69million) in March 5 2024 to N346.23billion (about $260.24million) in April 6 2024,” NGX said.

When compared to the performance in April 2023 (N191.21 billion), NGX said total transactions increased by 81.07 percent.

NGX said the overall value of transactions executed by domestic investors outperformed transactions executed by foreign investors by about 30 percent during the review period.

“A further analysis of the total transactions executed between the current and prior month (March 2024) revealed that total domestic transactions decreased by 49.27% from N444.28billion in March to N225.40billion in April 2024,” NGX said.

“However, total foreign transactions increased by 28.19% from N94.26 billion (about $70.83 million) to N120.83 billion (about $90.83 million) between March 2024 and April 2024.”

Retail domestic transactions decreased by 54.89 percent from N223.37 billion in March to N100.77 billion in April, according to NGX.

“Similarly, the institutional composition of the domestic market decreased by 43.58% from N220.91 billion in March 2024 to N124.63 billion in April 2024,” the bourse said. 

NGX said over a 16-year period, domestic transactions decreased by 10.94 percent from N3.556 trillion in 2007 to N3.167 trillion in 2023. 

On the other hand, the bourse said foreign transactions also decreased by 33.28 percent — from N616 billion to N411 billion over the same period.

“Total domestic transactions accounted for about 89% of the total transactions carried out in 2023, whilst foreign transactions accounted for about 11% of the total transactions in the same period,” NGX said.

According to the report, as of 2024, transaction data shows total domestic transactions are approximately N1.56 trillion, while total foreign transactions are about N334.01 billion.