Chinwendu Obienyi
Despite Nigeria’s economic uncertainties due to the impact of the COVID-19, market analysts Thursday expressed optimism about investment opportunities especially in the Nigerian stock market.
This is coming after investors in banks stocks reported a cumulative gain of over N230 billion in the month of May 2020, following fair earnings results released amid COVID-19 crisis.
Investigations by Daily Sun revealed that the stocks recorded a gain of N230 billion or 11.98 per cent to close at N1.15 trillion in market capitalisation on the last trading day of May as against the opening figure of N1.92 trillion at the beginning of trading on May 1.
Market watchers believe the investors were taking positions on bank stocks following fair (first quarter (Q1) results declared by the financial institutions.
Speaking to Daily Sun via a telephone chat, the Chairman, Association of Securities Dealing Houses of Nigeria, Chief Onyinyechukwu Ezeagu, admitted that he was surprised with the strong sentiment shown by investors in the month of May adding that the Nigerian stock market remains resilient and profitable.
Despite the ravaging COVID-19, it was a great relief that investors started to patronise the market. This, I can say ignited some positive sentiments towards the market and goes to show that our stock market remains profitable and resilient.
However, we all have to prepare ourselves for what is coming as we may see another recession but one can expect a concerted effort by all world economies to pull one another out since the problem is universal”.
For their part, analysts at Coronation Merchant Bank Limited say they remain optimistic about investment opportunities in the country despite uncertainties in economy due to the impact of the COVID-19.
Speaking during a breakfast session tagged: “Discovering the New Normal: Impact of COVID-19 and Collapse of Oil Prices,” organised by the bank recently in Lagos, Vice President, Global Market & Treasury at the bank, Iyobosa Sorae, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has worked so hard in bringing the Non-Deliverable Forward (NDF)platform that has been put in place for the market to ensure mitigating exchange rate risk when FDIs and corporates inflow their funds into the country.
