The Nigerian stock market year-to-date performance turned positive on Friday after almost seven months of being negative as cheap valuations of equities and low yields in the fixed-income markets continued to attract investors to the local bourse.
After recording a decline in 2019, the market had opened for 2020 with positive performance that lasted until February 26 before the bears took control.
And the market value has remained below its year’s opening threshold.
However, the value, climbed above the year’s opening on Friday with the Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index rising to 26,985.77, showing a growth of 0.54 per cent compared to 26,842.07 at the beginning of the year.
Similarly, the market capitalisation of equities ended with N14.105tn, showing a faster growth of 8.8 per cent as against the opening value of N12.968tn.
The performance indicated that the Nigerian market wiped off losses recorded between March and September, now showing signs of growth.
According to market operators and analysts, the positive tilt in the market stemmed from investors’ continued favourable reaction to the cut in monetary policy rate by Central Bank of Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Committee, purchase of undervalued stocks and end-of-year portfolio rebalancing.
