As the stock market continued to gain momentum in 2022, investors traded N687.1billion worth of fixed income on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) in May when its market capitalization increased to N22.44trillion from N21.75trillion reported in April.
Despite a 12.12 per cent increase in total deals to 74 in May from 66 deals in April, total value traded depreciated by 33.67 per cent to N393.3million in May from N260.86million in April 2022. Also, the total volume traded at the fixed income of the NGX depreciated by 34.84per cent to close May at 246,038.00 from 377,566.00 reported in April.
According to the Exchange monthly statistics, the Exchange Traded Products (ETPs), market capitalization added an estimate of N247.9million or per cent to close May at N7.39billion from N7.14billion in April.
As ETPs value traded rose by 553.25 per cent to N15.99bmillion in May from N2.45million in April, its volume traded also appreciated significantly by 356.20 per cent to 115,624.00 from 527,481.00
In the stock market segment, the market capitalization rose by N1.81trillion or 6.75 per cent to close at N28.57trillion in May from N26.77trillion it closed in April 2022.
The statistics disclosed that volume and value traded rose by 197.64 per cent and 195.07 per cent to 36.16billion and N303.94billion in May 2022, respectively.
The President of the Association of the Capital Market Academics in Nigeria (ACMAN), Professor Uche Uwaleke, had said investors reacted following a strong international crude oil price which reduces the risk of external shocks, stressing that the insignificant impact of the Russian-Ukraine war on the Nigerian economy played a critical role in the stock market growth in five months of 2022.
He added other factors that include, “Relatively low-interest rates in the fixed income market. However, this may reverse soon following the recent hike in the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
“Effective regulation on the part of the SEC has helped to boost confidence.”
He added, “Perhaps, the strongest driver has been improved corporate performance of many quoted companies. So, a lot of investors have engaged in bargain hunting in search of undervalued stocks thereby pushing up stock prices.”
