The Nigerian stock market experienced a net foreign investment outflow of N20.19 billion in January, indicating potential liquidity challenges in the market. According to data from the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), foreign outflows for January 2025 totaled N45.85 billion, while foreign inflows stood at N25.66 billion.
Foreign inflows slightly decreased by 2.3% from N26.26 billion in December 2024 to N25.66 billion in January 2025. In contrast, foreign outflows rose by 13.2%, increasing from N40.49 billion in December 2024 to N45.85 billion in January 2025.
On a year-on-year (YoY) comparison, foreign outflows outpaced inflows by 190.6%, with outflows at N45.85 billion in January 2025, compared to N15.78 billion in January 2024.
This trend threatens efforts to stabilize the Naira and boost external reserves, as foreign investors may be selling the local currency to repatriate funds to more favorable investment environments abroad.
The NGX data also revealed that total transactions on the Nigerian bourse dropped by 9.89%, from N673.66 billion (about $438.64 million) in December 2024 to N607.05 billion (about $410.84 million) in January 2025. Compared to January 2024, total transactions decreased by 6.83%. Domestic investors dominated, accounting for approximately 76% of total transactions.
Further analysis of transactions from January 2025 and December 2024 showed that domestic transactions declined by 11.71%, from N606.91 billion in December to N535.54 billion in January. Conversely, foreign transactions increased by 7.13%, rising from N66.75 billion (about $43.47 million) to N71.51 billion (about $48.38 million).
A breakdown of domestic transactions showed that institutional investors slightly outperformed retail investors by 0.16%. Retail transactions increased by 33.1%, from N200.87 billion in December to N267.35 billion in January 2025, while institutional transactions fell by 33.95%, from N406.04 billion to N268.19 billion during the same period.
