Speaking at the annual event of reviewing the performance of the market in the preceding year and giving prognosis for the market for 2019, Onyema, told the stockbroking community, analysts, media and other stakeholders, on Monday in Lagos that the NSE had strengthened its government engagement efforts on privatization and listing of state owned enterprises.
“We expect to take advantage of opportunities within this space during the year.
“We also intend to maintain our collaborative efforts with public and private sector stakeholders to advocate for market friendly policies, and cater to infrastructure financing needs as well as other capital requirements necessary for sustainable economic growth,” he said.
On the outlook for 2019, Onyema noted that the market sentiments in the first half of the year will be driven by uncertainty in oil prices as well as the 2019 general elections.
“Accordingly, we anticipate volatility in equities markets first half of 2019, with enhanced stability post-elections. We believe swift approval and implementation of the 2019 budget will have a positive impact on companies’ earnings as well as consumer spending. Therefore, we expect an uptick in market activity during the second half of 2019,” he said.
Reviewing the 2018 performance, Onyema stated that “the Nigerian economy continued its path of recovery, growing by 1.81 percent year on year in real terms as at the third quarter of 2018.
He noted that the recovery was bolstered by increased stability in the macro environment as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) continued to pursue a relatively tight policy stance in an effort to curtail inflation while holding the benchmark rate steady at 14.00 percent; and effectively maintained liquidity and stability in the foreign exchange market during the year.
Fuelled by the economic recovery, year on year growth in capital importation to Nigeria reached 114.33 percent as at September 2018, from the corresponding period of the previous year”.
Speaking on the performance of the market in 2018, Onyema noted that “NSE equity market started the year on a high, with the All Share Index (ASI) reaching a ten-year peak of 45,092.83 in January.
“This was largely driven by the positive performance of the ASI in 2017 which emerged the best in Africa. As we approached the second quarter, political risks, oil price volatility and rising global yields resulted in bearish sentiments that saw the ASI and equity market capitalization fall by 17.81% and 13.87% to close at 31,430.50 and N11.73trillion respectively.
“While listing activity remained relatively low during the year, (one listing and four delistings) equity turnover remained relatively stable, marginally declining by 5.45% to N1.20 trillion.
“Turnover velocity inched up 0.91 percentage points to 10.25%, and likewise, the size of volumes traded in the period increased by 0.96% to 101.43 billion with the Financial Services sector being responsible for the highest traded volume and value,” he said.
In the year under review, foreign portfolio investments outpaced domestic participation by 1.73%, accounting for 50.87% of total transactions, while domestic transactions accounted for 49.13%. Within Domestic Institutional order flow was 56% while retail order flow was 44%”.