ABSTRACT

Over the years relevant stakeholders in the economy of Nigeria were worried over the state of the Stock Exchange Market. The stock exchange market being a determining factor of economic growth is one tool that should be appraised from time to time to see its performance. It was in view of this that this research work "An Appraisal of the Performance of the Nigerian Stock Exchange towards Economic Growth" was carried out. The research design for the study was regression analysis. The population for the study is the Nigerian Stock Exchange, while the sample was looking at the Nigerian Stock Exchange from the period of ( 1986 - 20 I 0). The data analysis for this work was done using simple regression for hypothesis 1 to 3 while multiple regression was used for hypothesis 4. From the result of the study, the first hypothesis measuring market capitalization and GDP was seen to be significant hence the null hypothesis was rejected. Also hypothesis two measuring all shares index and GDP was seen to be significant hence the null hypothesis was rejected. The hypothesis three measuring the values of shares traded on the stock exchange and GDP was seen to be significant also the null hypothesis was also rejected. Hypothesis four measuring the contributions of the Nigerian Stock exchange in view of its predictors used (market capitalization, all shares index and values of shares) with economic growth was seen to be significant hence the null hypothesis was rejected. Recommendations were made based on the findings; government should create an enabling environment ensuring peace and stability which will promote entrepreneurial activities and in turn increase economic growth; government should be at its best to tackle the political, socio-economic problem of the country; the Nigerian stock exchange and security exchange commission must intensify their effort towards making the Nigerian public, business community and the government much more aware of the stock market; lastly, sufficient funds should be available to the Nigerian stock exchange as at when due, to enable her carryout her functions effectively.