Foreign investors accounted for just 4.89% of equity transactions on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) in August 2026, the lowest monthly participation share recorded this year, as foreign trading declined to N62.03 billion.
This is according to the latest NGX Domestic and Foreign Portfolio Investment Report for August 2026, which showed that total equity transactions fell 46.38% to N1.27 trillion from N2.37 trillion in July.
Despite the monthly decline, August turnover was 39.75% above the N908.4 billion recorded in August 2025, while domestic investors continued to account for the overwhelming majority of market activity.
Foreign equity transactions declined 53.23% to N62.03 billion in August from N132.62 billion in July, outpacing the 45.98% decline in domestic trading. Domestic investors recorded approximately N1.21 trillion in transactions, nearly 19 times the value attributed to foreign investors.
March and April accounted for approximately 51% of cumulative foreign net selling during the eight-month period, reinforcing the sustained imbalance between foreign purchases and sales.
Foreign participation has weakened considerably since reaching its 2026 peak in March. The share of equity transactions attributable to foreign investors declined from 16.56% in March to 4.89% in August.
Nairametrics previously reported that foreign trading surged 107.74% month-on-month to N288.82 billion in March before participation began to moderate.
The figures show that foreign investors’ share of NGX activity has declined even as total equity turnover has expanded significantly compared with the previous year.
Domestic investors accounted for approximately 89.77% of equity turnover during the first eight months of 2026, compared with 78.99% during the corresponding period of 2025. Their trading value increased 117.64% to N11.89 trillion from N5.46 trillion.
However, the August slowdown was driven primarily by domestic institutional investors, whose transactions fell substantially from July’s level.
The NGX figures describe equity transaction values rather than actual foreign currency movements, meaning the N275.16 billion cumulative foreign net sell position should not be interpreted as an equivalent amount of foreign exchange leaving Nigeria.
With domestic investors now responsible for nearly 90% of turnover, the market’s expansion in 2026 has been driven predominantly by local trading activity despite declining foreign participation.
