NSE CEO Reviews 2018 Market Performance and Gives Outlook for 2019
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The Nigerian Stock Exchange (“NSE” or “The Exchange”) held its 2018 Market Recap and Outlook for 2019 on Monday, January 14, 2018, at the Stock Exchange House, Marina, Lagos. This annual event is a forum for the Chief Executive Officer of the NSE, Mr. Oscar N. Onyema, to brief the stockbroking community, analysts, media and other stakeholders, on the performance of the market in the preceding year and give a prognosis for the market for the New Year 2019.
Delivering his presentation, Mr. Onyema stated that “the Nigerian economy continued its path of recovery, growing by 1.81% year on year in real terms as at the third quarter of 2018. The recovery was bolstered by increased stability in the macro environment as the CBN continued to pursue a relatively tight policy stance in an effort to curtail inflation while holding the benchmark rate steady at 14.00%, 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% as at September 2018, from the corresponding period of the previous year”. Reviewing the performance of the market in 2018, Mr. 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”.
Speaking 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.
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