The Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, on Tuesday attributed its equity rally to the outstanding performance of the market in the outgone year.
Oscar Onyeama, the Chief Executive Officer of the NSE, made this known at the Exchange’s 2017 Market Recap and Outlook for 2018 programme held at the exchange in Lagos.
Mr. Onyeama argued that about 12 per cent growth recorded by the market so far in 2018 was due to the emergence of the Nigerian bourse as the third best performing market in the world in 2017.
Mr. Onyema, who maintained that the news made more investors to embrace the nation’s bourse, added that it also boosted the confidence of players in the market.
The NSE boss noted that many people have identified that the market is still relatively cheap and this contributed to the price rally in the market.
On market performance in 2017, the NSE boss said that market recovered from the macroeconomic overhang of the commodity down cycle to become the third best performing market in 2017 globally, with a 42 per cent return in the NSE All-Share Index.
Market capitalisation rose by 47 per cent in 2017 to N13.62 trillion against N9.26 trillion posted in 2016, he said, adding that CBN policies increased liquidity in the foreign exchange market.
Commenting further, he explained that the equity market activity rose from 2016 levels, as market turnover increased by 121 per cent to N1.27 trillion from N0.58 trillion.
“New bond issuances increased over the previous year, while bond yields gradually moderated from 2016 levels amidst easing inflation and greater foreign exchange stability.
“Yields across various tenors declined between 0.4 per cent and 1.5 per cent, and market turnover declined by 24 per cent in 2017, as investors sought higher returns in alternative product classes.
“Supplementary issuances by the federal government saw bond market capitalisation increase by 34 per cent year-on-year”, he said.
Commenting on the bourse’s projection for 2018, Mr. Onyema said that political activities and currency movements would affect the market growth.
“Indeed, to some extent, political activities and currency movements will have some effect on the market, but we expect that such impacts will be short lived and the performance of the underlying business activities will ultimately determine market performance,’’ he explained.
