Heightened political tension weakens market indices by 0.53% The year 2021, like most other years, brought enchanting developments to Nigeria’s capital market (NCM), especially as the COVID-19 pandemic seemed far from over.
The country’s stock market had in 2020 witnessed closure of companies and offices which caused the postponement of annual general meetings (AGMs) of the quoted companies and shattered the dreams, projections, and expectations of many businesses, corporates, local and foreign investors.
It, however, led to the adaptation of the ‘new normal’ with many countries, especially Nigeria, updating their regulations through the aid of technology to ensure business continuity. So when the NCM shrugged off these challenges to record the best performance (50 per cent) in six years, and wiped off the negative performance achieved in 2019, renewed optimism lurked in the minds of investors that 2021 would bring a better year-to-date (YTD) return.
Indeed, out of the total amount of equities traded in 2021, domestic investors exchanged equities worth N1.215 trillion, representing 78.66 per cent of the total and despite the increasing anxiety as regards the Omicron variant, which has led to about 2,237 cases detected in Nigeria as of December 20, 2021, the nation’s bourse recorded 6.1 per cent.
Furthermore, the market’s All Share Index (ASI), which opened 2021 at 40,270.72 points, grew to 42,716.44 points as of December 31, 2021. Also, the equities’ market capitalisation that opened the year under review at N21.063 trillion closed at N22.297 trillion as of December 31, 2021, while bonds market capitalisation rose from N17.501 trillion as of December 2020 to N19.596 trillion as of December 24, 2021.
However, the total amount of foreign outflows grew by N209.76 billion from January to November 2021. Also, some stocks exceeded 20 per cent return and they include: Honeywell Flourmills (+187.5 per cent), Guinness (+105.3 per cent), Champion Breweries (+183.7 per cent), Custodian Investment (+33.3 per cent), Ecobank Transnational (+48.3 per cent), FBN Holdings (+60.8 per cent), Julius Berger (+25.6 per cent) and Livestock Feeds (+46.8 per cent).
But these aforementioned performances in 2021 came as a result of some initiatives such as demutualization, public offer, mergers and corporate earnings that occurred in the market.
Demutualisation
Prior to becoming a demutualised entity, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) now known as Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) got the Senate to give its assent to the demutualisation bill in 2018 and regulatory approvals from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the […]
