By Ade Jacobs
The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) Dr. Oscar Onyema, has warned that the second wave of the deadly coronavirus could slow down the much awaited economic recovery if not well managed.
He spoke during the NSE virtual 2021 Market Recap Outlook which held on Tuesday.
Onyema, however, added that the NSE started the year on a positive note with its transition to a demutualised exchange group following the appointment of Temi Popoola as the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) and Ms. Tinuade Awe as CEO of NGX REGCO, noting that the appointments will support its vision to be “Africa’s preferred Exchange Hub”.
The event is an annual ritual by the Exchange to review its performance in the previous years and make predictions for the new year.
Onyema said, “The year has started on a positive note as the ASI has already returned 2.0% after 11 trading sessions. We expect the marginal reopening of businesses, normalization of the economy and revenue-diversification drive of the Nigerian government to elicit positive sentiments throughout the year. Our growth expectations should be noted with caution, as the recent second wave of COVID-19 in Nigeria and globally, may slow down renewed social and economic activities.”
He said the Exchange was adjudged one of the best in the world despite the COVID 19 headwinds that ravaged global economies, noting that the bullish run in the market for the most part of last year was an indication that investors have reposed more confidence in the nation’s economy.
“The year 2020 was indeed a historic one for global capital markets. Facing buffeting headwinds, world markets saw sharp swings and steep losses but largely remained resilient and orderly amid rising uncertainty”, Onyema said, adding that “for The Exchange, renewed investor optimism coupled with improved economic conditions and low fixed income yields propelled a year-end bull run.”
“Of 93 global equity indices tracked by Bloomberg, the NSE All-Share Index (ASI) emerged as the best-performing index in the world, surpassing the S&P 500 (+16.26%), Dow Jones Industrial Index (+7.25%), and other global and African market indexes, to post a one-year return of +50.03%,” he said.
The Exchange lists the major highlights of the year under review to include the successful transition of stakeholder engagement activities to virtual sessions including the Oil and Gas webinar, Sustainable Capital Markets forum, Smart Investing Workshop, 5th Market Data Workshops, 2nd NSE CEO’s Stakeholder Engagement Call, Nigerian Securities Lending Forum and 2nd Islamic Finance Forum.
Others include the review and amendment of the Pension Index to ensure that it represents the appropriate benchmark for evaluating Pension Fund Administrators’ equity portfolios, revision of NSE trading fee charge on debt instruments to 0.0005% (N5 per million) to boost liquidity in the fixed income market, and the accreditation of the Exchange Academy by the Chartered Institute of Bankers, Nigeria (CIBN).
The academy also partnered with the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN) and the IoD Centre of Corporate Governance (IoDCCG) to run Corporate Governance training in view of the pandemic, while a total of N17.02 million compensation was awarded to 49 investors/claimants who suffered pecuniary losses in 2020, apart from its successful facilitation and recoveries of shares worth N305.11 million for investors in 2020, the Exchange said.