Nigerian Stock Exchange from OKORO CHINEDU in Lagos, Nigeria
LAGOS, (CAJ News) – The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) outshone the continent’s major bourses in Kenya and South Africa during the past year characterized by economic headwinds sparked by the coronavirus (COVID-19).
The Lagos-based NSE gained 50 percent over the full year 2020 to surpass the Nairobi Securities Exchange (also NSE) and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) respectively.
The Kenyan NSE was down 30 percent during the period.
JSE made marginal gains, in the region of around 5 percent.
FBN Quest, the market watcher, said the performance of the Nigerian bourse was outstanding considering that the NSE All Share Index (NSEASI) was still in negative territory year-to-date as late as September 30.
“Then the surge becomes remarkable,” FBN Quest stated.
The best performer of the sector-based indices over the year was 90,8 percent for industrial good.
This was driven by listed cement companies.
“Unsurprisingly, the worst performer was the oil and gas segment,” the market watcher stated.
Nigeria is Africa’s biggest producer of crude oil but the industry has taken a knock globally.
The local stock exchange’s stellar performance is attributed to changes in asset allocation by domestic investors.These accounted for 65,3 percent of transactions by value in January-November according to the NSE’s (Nigeria) data.This is compared with 51,2 percent in the comparable period in 2019.Meanwhile, the African bourse of choice for foreign portfolio investments (FPIs) remains the Egypt Exchange. – CAJ News
