Onyema: Stocks Cheap on Foreign Investors’ Exit

Foreign investors fleeing Nigeria as oil prices plunge are leaving stocks undervalued in Africa’s biggest economy, the bourse’s chief executive officer, Mr. Oscar Onyema has said.

The benchmark index’s 18 per cent decline this year isn’t justified by economic changes and as a result Nigerian equities are “effectively on sale,” Oscar Onyema said in an interview with Bloomberg in Diani, Kenya.

“The fundamentals demand higher valuations.”

Nigerian stocks dropped as crude slid into a

Nigeria stocks, bonds fall on naira, oil price worries

Nigerian stocks fell to a four-month closing low of 40,537 points on Tuesday, as a weaker naira hurt by falling global oil prices dampened appetite for equities, dealers said.

The index shed 1.1 percent on the day to its lowest closing level since May 28, dragged down by heavyweight banking and cement stocks.

Shares in Dangote Cement, Nigeria’s most capitalised stock, shed 1.73 percent to 221 naira, while Zenith Bank fell 3.64 percent to 23.80 naira.

Bond yields also rose as offshore funds sold naira assets, dealers said.

“It was a red day for the Nigerian bourse. We think the current negative market sentiment will persist into tomorrow’s session,” Vetiva Capital wrote in a note.