EFFECT OF STOCK MARKET LIBERALISATION ON VOLATILITY IN NIGERIAN EXCHANGE GROUP (NGX).

The Nigerian stock market is seen as one of the key drivers of growth in the economy and hence has undergone significant changes in terms of policies that are aimed at improving its performance. Among these reforms is the stock market liberalization which was targeted at enhancing the efficiency of the market. This study examined the impact of financial liberalization on stock market volatility in Nigeria from February 2011 to September 2023 using monthly time series data extracted from the central bank of Nigeria(CBN) Data base and the Nigerian exchange group (NGX). The Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) and Philip Perron (PP) unit root tests were conducted on the time series data. The ARCHLM tests was also carried out and the EGARCH model was estimated under the assumption of normally distributed model. The ARCH tests results revealed that there exists ARCH effects in the NGX stock returns implying the presence of volatility clustering in the return series. The results further revealed that stock market liberalisation has a significant negative impact on volatility. The findings also indicates volatility persistence in the Nigerian stock market and that bad news generates higher volatility than good news of the same magnitude. Policy makers should institute policies and mechanism that will stabilize significant macroeconomic indicators like exchange rate and inflation as this would guarantee investor's confidence in the stock market.