Naira Depreciation and High Interest Rates Force Market Slowdown, Experts Say

Stockbrokers and investors have abandoned the equity market due to the Naira volatility, lack of market drive towards the end of the year,  and the high interest rate in Nigeria.

A long-time investor, David Adonri explained that the volume of trade usually drops towards the end of the year but the market normalises in January.

With the persistent drop in the value of the Nigerian Naira against foreign currencies, investors are wary of unfavourable currency conversion.

“The equity market reacts to so many things. The depreciation of the naira, which is around N1,700, of course, would impact the market. The foreign exchange position can make people exit the market and convert to hard currency, which is stronger, possibly to come back to the market when they see an improved currency level. That is what we call carry-over trade,” Adonri said.

“We also have the hike in the interest rate, which also causes financial assets to migrate away from the capital market,” Adonri added.

“Third, we are in the period of the year, where seasonally, the market is a little bit down because there is nothing specific to drive the market like full-year results or half-year dividends and so on. So we slide to a low tempo from September up to November until after Christmas the market starts trending up again,” he further stated.

According to a report by the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX), equity investment transactions dropped in Q3, 2024 compared to the previous quarter of the year.

In the same vein, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported that capital importation showed that investors shifted from equity investment to portfolio investment.

The portfolio investment includes equity, bonds, and money market instruments.

With the recent shift, the portfolio investment made a 10.37 percent increase amounting to a $106.85 million gain from the N1.03 billion total capital inflow.