By Udeme Ekwere

Tuesday, 8 Feb 2011

The Securities and Exchange Commission has assured investors that there will be listing of more telecommunications and oil/gas firms in the capital market.

The Director-General, SEC, Ms. Arunma Oteh, who noted this in a briefing on Monday, said that it was important for these firms to be listed as it would increase the depth of the market.

She said, “SEC has been mandated by the Federal Government to look into ways of getting more upstream oil/gas and telecommunications firms to list on the Exchange. This will deepen the market as well as increase activities.

“We are also ensuring that by 2012, there will be a more robust trading platform, and we are also seeking to grow an Alternative Investment Market on the NSE, where smaller firms would be encouraged to list.”

According to her, these will help the companies to fund their activities aimed at developing the real economy.

She noted that the SEC had taken part of the blame in the activities that led to loss of confidence in the market, adding that this was the reason the regulator was involved in schemes to ensure that activities improved.

Meanwhile, trading activities on the NSE closed on a negative note with indices recording marginal losses.

The market capitalisation of the listed equities fell by 0.3 per cent or N29bn from N8.554tn to close at N8.525tn.

Similarly, the NSE’s All-Share Index declined by 0.3 per cent or 91.27 basis points to 26,672.57, down from 26,763.84 points recorded last week.

The NSE-30 Index closed at 1,167.99 points, representing a decline by 0.4 per cent or 5.01 basis points from 1,173 points last Friday.

According to analysts, the losses were due to the absence of active bargain position and continuous sell activities witnessed in blue-chip and banking stocks.

For instance, Cadbury Nigeria Plc recorded the highest loss for the day, shedding 4.1 per cent or N1.20 to close at N28 per share.

UACN Plc and Ashaka Cement Plc lost 2.6 per cent and 3.1 per cent to close at N37 and N28.10 per share, while Lafarge WAPCO Plc and Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc lost 1.1 per cent and 4.1 per cent to close at N42.50 and N9.86 per share respectively.

On the other hand, African Petroleum Plc led the price gainers, rising by 1.8 per cent or 50 kobo to close at N27.50 per share.

Source: Punch