Publications
July 28, 2016
Portfolio Diversification Between Developed And Less Developed Economies
This study
examines the hedging effectiveness of portfolio investment diversification
between developed and developing economies; with focus on the Nigerian stock
asset vis–vis the stock assets of the United States (US) and United Kingdom
(UK). Its main contribution is in the analysis of optimal portfolio
diversification using optimal portfolio weight (OPW) and optimal hedging ratio
(OHR). Empirical findings show that the OPW and OHR are low, which indicates impressive
potential gains from combining Nigerian stock assets in an investment portfolio
with US and UK stock assets. In addition, exchange rate volatility is found to
pose stern limitation on the potential benefits of this portfolio
diversification arrangement. It is therefore recommended that the monetary
authority in Nigeria should pursue policies towards reducing exchange rate
volatility to the barest minimum. This will possibly attract more investors
from developed economies who might be willing to combine Nigerian stock in
their investment portfolio to minimize portfolio risk.
Related
Nigeria Economic Update(Issue 31)
Recent data on Consumer
Price Index (CPI) indicates significant increase in general price level for the
sixth consecutive month. Headline inflation increased by 0.9 percentage points from
15.6 per cent recorded in May to 16.5 percent in June the highest
rate recorded since October 2005 (an 11-year high). The core sub-index
increased from 15.1 percent to 16.2 percent while the food sub-index stood at
15.3 percent, an increase of 0.4 percent from the preceding month of May. Higher
prices of domestic/imported food and other items, as well as increased energy
cost were major drivers of the increase. This is probably explained by the
exchange-rate pass-through, given the significant depreciation of the naira.
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 28)
Latest monthly economic report by the CBN reveals a decline in foreign exchange flows through the CBN. Foreign exchange inflow through the apex bank, dropped Month-on-Month by 21 percent to $2.3 billion in May 2017, occasioned by the fall in from Oil and Non-oil sources during the month.