Increased offshore trade boosted Nigerian shares in June - exchange

LAGOS (Reuters) - Transactions on Nigeria's stock market rose 7.13 percent to 220.27 billion naira ($699.3 million) in June from a month earlier, lifted by increased flows from foreign investors, stock exchange data showed on Thursday. The value of foreign transactions on the local bourse rose by 6.66 percent to 101.53 billion naira in the period, according to the data. Nigerian assets, largely shunned by foreign investors over the past three years, are back on their radar thanks to a drop in valuations and improved liquidity. The equity market has benefited from the introduction more than four months ago of a new window for investors to trade the naira at market-determined exchange rates. The report showed that foreign investors' transactions on the local bourse rose 59.81 percent to 430.23 billion naira in the first half of this year, compared with 269.22 billion naira a year earlier. Last week, the market had rallied for an eighth consecutive week and peaked at a 33-month high before profit-takers took advantage of the gains to sell their holdings. The market's main index has gained about 34 percent year-to-date but profit-taking has dominated trading since the start of the week. "What we have seen is locals riding on the back of foreign investors in the market," Kemi Akinde, analyst at Meristem Securities, told Reuters last week. ($1 = 315 naira) (Reporting by Oludare Mayowa; Editing by Dale Hudson)