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FG expresses concern over situation at stock market - As market value drops by N297bn in one day

AS share prices slide in the capital market, the Federal Government has stated that the negative global condition in the market may affect the Nigerian capital market.

Minister of Finance, Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman, stated this on Tuesday in Abuja while inaugurating the new board of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Noting that the negative global situation in the capital market might spread to Nigeria, the minister said with good corporate governance, the global threat might not be a problem to the Nigerian market.

To ward off the threat, he said there was still a lot to do in the areas of entrenching market transparency, efficiency and discipline.

He said no effort should be spared towards ensuring the international competitiveness of the market and its relevance to domestic needs.

‘These can only be done through sustained commitment to zero tolerance for market abuse, improving processes and products and intensive public awareness campaign” the minister said.

With the calibre of people on the SEC board, Dr. Usman expressed confidence in the board’s capacity to provide the guidance required to move SEC in particular and the Nigerian capital market forward.

In his address, the Director General of SEC, Mr. Musa Al-Faki, said that efforts were ongoing to further reduce the cost of doing business in the Nigerian capital market.

He said this, among other measures would encourage greater inflow of both local and foreign investments. Members of the board are Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, Part-time chairman; Musa Al-Faki, Alhaji Lawal Sani Stores, Ms. Daisy Sabunju Ekineh, Mr. Charles Udora, Mrs. A.O. Fatade, Mallam Yahaya Alli, Mr Jubril Zarewa and Mr. Umar Bello Girei.

Meanwhile, despite the efforts of the management of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to ensure that activities in the capital market improve after some months of continuous bearish run, transactions in the market have remained down.

The market capitalisation of all listed equities which opened on Tuesday at N11.416 trillion lost N297 billion to close at N11.119 trillion.

Similarly, the all-share index closed lower at 57,101.72 points compared to 58,625.66 points it opened with.

Market operators explained that investors were not eager to rush back into the market, saying that they were still watching developments.

They further explained that many investors incurred losses in the past two months due to the suspension on financier account, popularly known as margin account, as their banks were calling on them to clear their accounts which warranted their offloading their holdings within the period.

They opined, however, that the market would soon bounce back.
Further breakdown showed that 67 stocks lost weight compared to 62 the pervious day with Oando Plc leading the lot with N10.609 to close at N201.40. BCC followed with price loss of N2.47 to close at N46.93. Flour Mill, Ashakacem and Zenith Bank followed, losing N2.36, N2.22 and N2.20 to close at N87.49, N42.37 and N42.30 respectively.

Conversely, 19 companies added weight led by Mobil Oil which gained N9.37 to close at N196.87, followed by Guinness with appreciation of N1.80 to close at N130.00. Eterna oil, Presco and Dangote Flour followed, adding N1.66, N1.39 and N1.36 to close at N34.92, N29.39 and N29.05 in that order.

As in the pervious day, the insurance sub-sector led activity on the sectoral chart, accounting for 724.2 million shares worth N1.5 billion done in 3,357 deals, followed by the banking sub-sector with traded volume of 142.112 million shares valued at N3.2 billion exchanged in 6,865 deals.

The NSE had last week in a spirited effort to restore confidence in investors and arrest the tumbling of stocks, called off the suspension on financier account, thereby giving stockbrokers leave to continue to take loans from banks to trade on behalf of their clients.

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