The total amount of transactions on Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) grew to N322.92 billion in the month of May as against N191.21 billion in the previous trading month, thus representing a 68.88 per cent increase.

This is according to the Domestic and Foreign Portfolio Investment Report of Nigerian Exchange Limited for the month of May 2023. The prolonged foreign exchange scarcity, inflation among others had been taking their toll on the Nigerian economy and the capital market which is the barometer of the economy had seen mixed sentiments in transactions in the month under review.

However, the securities market hit the biggest single day gain in two years, rising by 5.23 per cent on May 29 as investors reacted positively to President Bola Tinubu’s ‘no more fuel subsidy and immediate unification of exchange rates’ comments.

Tinubu also stated that his administration would be targeting a higher Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, create jobs, work towards a unified exchange rate and ensure that investors and foreign businesses repatriate their hard earned dividends and profits home. This resulted into a huge bounce as the total value of transactions executed by domestic investors outperformed transactions executed by foreign Investors by 76 per cent.

Further analysis of the total transactions executed between the current and prior month (April 2023) revealed that total domestic transactions increased by 56.37 per cent from N182.74 billion in April to N285.76 billion in May 2023. Similarly, total foreign transactions increased significantly by 338.72 per cent from N8.47 billion (about $18.31 million) to N37.16 billion (about $79.88million) between April 2023 and May 2023.

Over a sixteen (16) year period, domestic transactions decreased by 45.30 per cent from N3.556 trillion in 2007 to N1.945 trillion in 2022 whilst foreign transactions also decreased by 38.47 per cent from N616 billion to N379 billion over the same period.

Also, total domestic transactions stood at N945.02 billion, whilst total foreign transactions closed the month under review at N99.34 billion. The report also revealed that institutional investors outperformed retail Investors by 38 per cent while a comparison of domestic transactions in the current and prior month (April 2023) revealed that retail transactions increased by 19.29 per cent from N74.19 billion in April to N88.50 billion in May 2023.

Similarly, the institutional composition of the domestic market increased significantly by 81.72% per cent from N108.55 billion in April 2023 to N197.26 billion in May 2023.