Retail Investors Push Nigerian Stocks to Record Highs With N1.19trn of Trades

Retail investors participation on the Nigeria Exchange Group (NGX) has jumped 35 percent year to date in 2025, compared to 2024 levels, helping to push Nigerian stocks to record highs.

Domestic retail investors have traded N1.19 trillion worth of Nigerian stocks so far in 2025 (January – May), compared to N885 billion in the comparable period of 2024, according to data from the NGX.

A higher-than-usual level of retail investor participation is driving flows toward lower priced small-and mid-cap names, said Samson Esemuede, chief investment officer of Lagos-based Zrosk Investment Management.

Nigerian stocks advanced to a record high as the NGX All Share Index rose for a ninth straight day backed by an improving economic outlook.

The NGX all-share index increased 0.43% on Monday, extending its longest set of consecutive daily gains since March 2024. Total market capitalisation of equities listed on the NGX stands at N78.38 trillion or $51.3 billion.

Trading value advanced by +5.42% to N32.05bn, driven by significant trades in SEPLAT, which topped the value chart with N5.38bn worth of deals

The gains took NGX returns in local-currency to 27% in the last 52 weeks — double the rise in the MSCI Emerging Markets Europe, Middle East and Africa Index in the same period.

Small cap stocks have led the market rally in Nigerian equities year-to-date, with packaging firm Beta Glass up 414% this year.

Champion Breweries and FTN Cocoa Processors have jumped 258% and 328% in that time.

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