Stock market investors (equities only) in the country recorded an appreciation in value of N1.461tn on their investments in the second quarter of this year.
Compared to the first quarter of the year, the Nigerian Stock Exchange market capitalisation closed at N10.165tn on June 30 from N8.704tn on March 31.
The NSE All-Share Index also moved to 29,597.79 basis points from 25,306.22 basis points in the same period.
Between January and March, the equities market had depreciated by 10.79 per cent, according to available data from the NSE.
As of the first day of trading this year (January 4), the NSE market capitalisation stood at N9.757tn, while the All-Share Index was 28,370.32 basis points. But as of the last day of trading in March, the market capitalisation and All-Share Index had crashed to N8.704tn and 25,306.22 basis points, respectively.
Equity investors had in the first seven trading days of the year lost N804bn of their investment worth. The market capitalisation after the close of trading on the floor of the Exchange in the first seven days closed at N8.953tn.
The All-Share Index also dropped from 28,370.32 basis points recorded on the first day of trading in 2016 to 26,034.94 seven trading days into the year.
A few weeks into the year, the downward trend in the Nigerian stock market prevailed with 10 out of the 12 indices of the NSE turning out negative.
The market capitalisation of the NSE had fallen by N811bn in the first 10 weeks of the year.
Market capitalisation is the total market value of the shares outstanding of all traded companies on the floor of the Exchange.
It dropped from N9.75tn on January 4, 2016 to N8.939tn 10 weeks into the year, while the All-Share Index also closed at 25,988.40 basis points in the same period from the 28,643.67 basis points recorded on the first trading day of the year.
Investors had also made huge losses in the Nigerian equities market last year, as the market capitalisation (equities only) of the NSE shed a total of N2.354tn between December 2014 and December 2015.
Financial experts tied the improved performance of the market on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s decision to introduce the floating foreign exchange policy.
They said the introduction of a forward market to hedge volatility in the foreign exchange market, and the licensing of foreign exchange primary dealers were innovations that had helped, to some extent, to reawaken the market.
The President and Chairman, Governing Council, Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers, Mr. Oluwaseyi Abe, said the implementation of the new forex framework had helped in boosting dollar supply, while ensuring some form of clarity in the currency exchange rate.
The naira to dollar exchange rate had been pegged for 16 months before the CBN reversed the policy. This had resulted in the dearth of dollars and prompted large-scale capital flight, with the attendant growth challenges in the capital market and the economy at large, he said.
