By Chinwendu Obienyi
Assets under listing at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), the leading market for Exchange traded Funds (ETFs) in the West African region market, rose by N20.324 billion in the first quarter (Q1) of 2021.
This was even as trade volumes rose by 3,064 per cent from nearly 0.2 million units in Q1 2020 to 5.3 million units recorded in Q1 2021.
According to the NGX Quarterly report for Q1 2021, the Nigerian Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) and ETF market witnessed a sterling performance since the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, resulting in market capitalisation of the twelve listed securities’ currently standing at N20.324 billion.
Analysis of the report showed that market turnover (value traded) skyrocketed by 4,556 per cent between Q1 2020 and Q1 2021 even as five of the listed securities were the most active in the period under review.
NewGold ETF took the lead in both value and volume traded in the ETF space as it traded 3,47 million units valued at N29.63 billion. Vetiva Griffin 30 was next after trading 814,372 units worth N13.94 million, Lotus Halal transacted 746,400 units worth N9.95 million, Meristem Value ETF sold 163,09 units valued at N2.90 million while Vetiva Banking ETF traded 56,116 units valued at N232,397. This means that over 5.25 million units were traded and valued at N29.656 billion in the period under review. However, foreign participation dominated the ETF market as 92 per cent of foreign investors’ outclassed domestic investors (8 per cent).