Stock Investors Gained N5.6trn, Capitalisation Hit N28trn In 2022

Investors in the Nigerian Exchange gained N5.618tn between January 4, 2022 when the market opened and the close of business on December 30, 2022.

Despite the global economic risk, the Nigerian stock market’s capitalisation grew from N22.297tn as of January 4, 2022, to N27.915tn as of December 30, 2022.

In the period under review, the NGX All-Share Index grew by 19.98 per cent to 51,251.06 basis points amid volatility in stock markets across advanced countries caused by risk assets sell-offs by investors.

According to a Financial Times report quoted in the Institute of International Finance, the emerging markets were hit by a record streak of withdrawals by foreign investors, leading to cross-border outflows of $38bn between March and July.

According to a release sighted by Economic Confidential, Ghana joined Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Pakistan as countries that have indicated a lack of capacity to continue to service their debts.

While speaking on the market run in the period under review, the Chief Executive Officer of Wyoming Capital and Partners, Tajudeen Olayinka, told our correspondent that the performance was driven largely by the availability of investible funds and impacts of inflation, while cautioning that more needed considering the size of the Nigerian economy.

A Senior Vice President of FBN Quest, Uwa Osadiaye, in a chat with our correspondent, said the appreciation was induced by the absence of foreign investors who had taken a sizeable global risk off the capital market.

He said, “If we had a significant amount of FPI in our equity market, the results would not have been very nice because a lot of them would have exited, causing a very bad decline in the market.”

He added that the raise in the Monetary Policy Rate by the Central Bank motivated the investors to switch from equities to Federal Government debt instruments, and was one of the major drivers of the performance.

Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer, NGX, Temi Popoola, spoke about the exchange’s impressive year, despite facing global macroeconomic challenges and volatility.

“It’s been a fantastic year for NGX, with a positive 19.98 per cent return,” he said.

He added, “We’ve also seen several landmark listings in equity and fixed income, including BUA Foods and Geregu Power, which have played a key role in driving growth in the market this year.”