Despite strong year-on-year growth, the Nigerian equities market recorded a sharp contraction in trading activity in January 2026, as total transactions fell by 37.55 per cent to N862 billion.

Data from the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) latest Domestic and Foreign Portfolio Investment for January showed that total transactions fell by 37.55 per cent to N862 billion in January 2026 from N1.38 trillion recorded in December 2025.

The month-on-month decline reflects reduced participation across both domestic and foreign segments of the market.

However, when compared with January 2025, when total transactions stood at N6071 billion, trading activity in January 2026 rose by 42 per cent, underscoring a stronger performance on a year-on-year basis.

A breakdown of the January 2026 trading performance indicated that domestic investors maintained dominance in market activity, accounting for roughly 86.8 per cent of total transactions, while foreign investors contributed about 13.2 per cent.

According to NGX, the total value of transactions executed by domestic investors amounted to N74783 billion, significantly higher than the N1141 billion recorded by foreign investors.

Further analysis shows that domestic transactions declined by 18.92 per cent month-on-month, dropping from N922 billion in December 2025 to N7478 billion in January 2026.

Foreign transactions recorded a much steeper decline of 75.08 per cent, falling from N458 billion in December to N114 billion in January.

NGX attributed the sharp drop in foreign activity to the absence of large block trades that had significantly boosted foreign transaction volumes in December 2025.

Within the domestic segment, institutional investors marginally outperformed retail investors in January as transactions stood at N388 billion, representing a 35.73 per cent decline from N604 billion recorded in December.

In contrast, retail transactions increased by 12.92 per cent to N360 billion in January from N317 billion in the preceding month, indicating stronger participation by individual investors.