By Tenebe Anthonia
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has continued to demonstrate remarkable resilience amidst the coronavirus pandemic and volatility in the market.
This has resulted into increased investors’ confidence as reflected in the performance of the various asset classes the exchange provides.
On the equities side, the All Share Index (ASI) is outperforming comparable African Exchanges and stands at -7.16% YTD as at June 18, 2020, while capitalisation in the fixed income market has risen by 13.5 percent to N14.66 trillion from N12.92 trillion as at the end of 2019 as a result of increased listing activity from the federal government and Nigerian corporates.
Some notable listings in the private sector include the Dangote N100 billion bond, FBNQuest Merchant N5 billion bond, the Primero BRT Securitisation SPV Plc’s N16.5 billion bond, the Flour Mills of Nigeria’s N7.5 billion and N12.5 billion bonds, Golden Guinea Breweries Plc’s private placement amounting to N1.2 billion.
On the government side, the FGN Savings Bonds valued at N206.3 million, 5.131 percent and N78.7 million of 4.131 percent on April 3, 2020, were listed, as well as the federal government bonds of N55 billion, N65 billion and N40 billion.
Recall that the NSE opened strong in 2020, becoming the best performing equities in the world by mid-January with gains of 10.4 percent year-to-date (YTD) and recording one of its best January returns at 7.5 percent.
However, the momentum slowed as the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the world between February and March, leading to unprecedented panic in global financial markets due to economic uncertainty.
Amidst this global issue, the NSE continues to reap the benefits of its investments in business innovation and digitisation made over the years.
Since the activation of its Business Continuity Plan on March 23, 2020, the exchange has sustained remote working and trading with no downtimes.
Dealing member firms have been equipped to trade leveraging FIX Protocol and Virtual Private Networks provided by the domestic bourse.
On Wednesday, June 17, 2020, the exchange recorded an 11 percent increase on the average daily turnover when compared with the same period in 2019, recording N3.93 billion and N3.52 billion respectively.
Significant growth has also been recorded in the premium board category with a 28.6 percent increase in volume traded up from 50.04 million in 2019 to 64.39 million in 2020.
The exchange has also recorded significant improvement in the involvement of local investors at the market as a result of renewed interest in stocks.
Dipo Olowookere 
Adedapo Adesanya