By Our Reporter
The nation’s currency, the naira, which has seen steady appreciation against the dollar all week, closed stronger on Friday, May 23, 2025, trading at N1,580.44 in the official forex market.
Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s website show the naira gained N4.51k against the dollar on Friday, May 24, 2025, alone.
This marks a 0.28 per cent appreciation from Thursday’s closing rate of N1,584.95 in the official foreign exchange window.
The local currency maintained consistent strength throughout the week, recording gains daily.
On Monday, May 19, it traded at N1,598.68; on Tuesday, at N1,590.45 and on Wednesday, at N1,584.49.
These gains suggest increased investor confidence and improved forex supply, contributing to the naira’s performance.
Meanwhile, the CBN, at its 300th Monetary Policy Committee meeting held last Monday and Tuesday, retained the Monetary Policy Rate at 27.5 per cent.
In another development, foreign portfolio transactions on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) declined sharply by 90.99 per cent in April 2025, falling to N63.07billion from N699.89billion recorded in March, according to the latest Domestic and Foreign Portfolio Investment report released by the NGX.
The sharp drop in foreign participation followed a surge recorded in March due to large block trades that significantly boosted foreign inflows. With the absence of such transactions in April, foreign investor activity slumped, accounting for just 13.08 per cent of total market turnover for the month.
Overall, total transactions on the exchange declined by 56.79 per cent, from N1.115trillion in March to N482.04billion in April. In dollar terms, this amounted to approximately $301.90million in April, compared to $725.86million in March, using official exchange rates provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the respective months.
Domestic investors, however, sustained market momentum despite the decline in foreign participation. Domestic transactions rose marginally by 0.81 per cent, from N415.62billion in March to N418.97billion in April. Domestic investors accounted for 86.92 per cent of the total transaction value during the month.
A closer look at domestic participation reveals that institutional investors drove the majority of the trades. Institutional transactions increased by 8.77 per cent from N218.50billion in March to N237.66billion in April. Conversely, retail transactions declined by 8.02 per cent, from N197.12billion to N181.31billion over the same period.
The data further shows that total domestic and foreign portfolio transactions from January to April 2025 amounted to N2.714trillion, with domestic investors accounting for N1.837trillion, representing 67.68 per cent, while foreign investors contributed N877.12billion, or 32.32 per cent.
Comparatively, the same period in 2024 recorded total transactions of N1.894trillion, comprising N1.560trillion in domestic transactions and N334.01billion in foreign transactions, highlighting a significant year-on-year increase in foreign participation for the first four months of 2025 despite the April setback.