Why Are Nigerian Stock and Bond Markets Telling Different Stories?

March 21, 2019
nigerian stock exchange

By United Capital Research

It has been roughly one month since the 2019 Presidential and National Assembly elections took place, following which the candidate of the incumbent party – Muhammadu Buhari – was declared the winner.

In the wake of the elections, total Foreign Portfolio Investments worth $3.2 trillion has been recorded via the Investors & Exporters FX window.

Strangely, this inflow has only trickled down to fixed income assets. Equities, however, have declined by 4.4% since then. This begs the question, ‘why have equity bulls gone into hiding’?

It may have something to do with investor uncertainty; a lot of important issues remain unsettled, especially in light of the APC’s victory which may be interpreted to mean the sustenance of soft policy pronouncements and slow reforms.

This may be causing investors to take a hard look at the Nigerian economy.

Nevertheless, the equity market remains attractively priced especially since two of the biggest risks (US Fed rate hikes and election uncertainty), which predicated 2018’s – c.18% loss, have dissipated.

Furthermore, there are near term catalysts to look out for; from MTN’s expected listing, to favourable oil price trends. We see scope to believe that potentials exist for the market to rebound.

Modupe Gbadeyanka

Modupe Gbadeyanka is a fast-rising journalist with Business Post Nigeria. Her passion for journalism is amazing. She is willing to learn more with a view to becoming one of the best pen-pushers in Nigeria. Her role models are the duo of CNN's Richard Quest and Christiane Amanpour.

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