LAGOS – Some capital market experts on Wednesday predicted that the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) would record significant improvement in the second quarter of 2015.
They told newsmen in Lagos that the improvement was expected because the electioneering activities would have been over by the first quarter.
Mr Chineyem Anyanwu, a Managing Partner of Dependable Securities Ltd., Lagos, said that the uncertainties surrounding the 2015 general elections had slowed down the equity market.
Anyanwu said that activities of politicians ahead of the forthcoming elections also affected the entire capital market growth and development.
According to him, all the predicaments and challenges that may come with the 2015 general elections will be felt within the first quarter.
“I believe that the stock market will gain much and the economy generally will improve as soon as the election is over,” he said.
The NSE market capitalisation as at December 30, 2014, closed at N11.49 trillion from the N13.20 trillion in the corresponding period of 2013.
The decrease of N1.71 trillion represented 12.95 per cent decrease already.
Also speaking, Mr Emmanuel Eze, Managing Director, Perfecter Investment Trust Ltd., Lagos, said that the stock market performed lower than what was expected in 2014.
Eze said that the market actually lost what it gained in 2013.
According to him, the poor performance of the 2014 financial year is as a result of the outbreak of Ebola disease and the devaluation of the Naira.
“There was also the fall in crude oil prices and security challenges, among others, facing the economy,” he said.
Mr Gbenga Obisesan, Managing Director, Topmost Securities Ltd., Lagos, said there was need for strong Nigerian investors’ participation in the Nigerian stock market to enhance stability and development of the economy.
Obisesan said that the market and the economy would be stable through strong participation of domestic investors.

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