CBN Forex Guideline: Investors Inject N760bn Into Stock Market In Three Days

The Nigerian Stock Exchange reacted positively to the news of the unveiling of the new foreign exchange guidelines by the CBN last Wednesday as the market capitalisation soared by over N760bn, with investors committing huge sums to acquire more shares.

The move by investors to acquire more stocks at this time is hinged on their desire to re-enter the market when share prices are at their lowest, as the market is expected to recover after months of persistent fall.

Prior to the three-day straight gains last week, the NSE market capitalisation had stood at N9.284tn on Tuesday. But as of the last day of trading last week on Friday, the value of the market had soared to N10.044tn.

Other variables like the All-Share Index, market turnover, share volume and deals also recorded significant appreciation.

Between Tuesday and Friday, the NSE ASI rose from 27,034.05 basis points to 29,247.27 basis points; the market turnover increased from N2.424bn to N6.791bn; the share volume rose from 170.686 million to 628.752 million; while the number of deals appreciated from 3,153 to 5,965.

On Wednesday when the market got wind of the release of the new forex guidelines, the ASI rallied by 3.17 per cent, boosting the market capitalisation by N295bn, as the value of the market rose to N9.579tn from N9.284tn, while the NSE ASI hit 27,891.96 basis points from 27,034.05 basis points.

Aggregate of 588.427 million shares worth N3.477bn were traded in 5,088 deals at the close of trading on the Exchange.

The day after, the market gained more than N205bn after 32 firms made it to the gainers’ chart, which boosted the NSE ASI by 2.14 per cent.

The NSE market capitalisation soared to N9.784tn from N9.579tn, while the index rose to 28,489.89 basis points from 27,891.96 basis points. Total of 618.248 million shares valued at N5.41bn were traded in 6,757 deals.