By Udeme Ekwere with agency report

The Nigerian Stock Exchange has called for more local participation in the capital market.

Bloomberg News reported that the Interim Administrator, NSE, Mr. Emmanuel Ikazoboh, made the call during a briefing on Thursday.

According to him, there is the need for more Nigerians to be interested in the market as 68 per cent of shares in the market are held by foreign investors.

“The reason is that confidence has not grown for our people to start buying as much as foreign investors. It is an issue we need to address,” he noted.

Ikazoboh said that the Exchange was looking at establishing an alternative market for small and medium enterprises and for private placements within three months, adding that it was also monitoring the performance of stock prices to decide whether to alter the current cap of five per cent on changes permissible on share prices.

Meanwhile, equity trading activities closed on a negative note on Thursday, with major market indicators shedding significant points.

Specifically, the market capitalisation of the listed equities, which lost 0.1 per cent or N11bn to close at N8.538tn the previous day, fell further by 1.9 per cent or N158bn to N8.380tn on Thursday.

Similarly, the NSE’s All-Share Index lost 1.9 per cent or 496.45 basis points to close at 26,217.28 points.

The NSE-30 Index closed at 1,156.31, representing a 1.5 per cent drop compared to 1,174.11 points recorded the preceding day.

Analysts traced the decline to the withdrawal of foreign investments as a result of the ongoing crisis in North Africa.

SCOA Nigeria Plc recorded the highest loss for the day, shedding 4.9 per cent or 39 kobo to close at N7.48 per share.

Two breweries sub-sector stocks – Nigerian Breweries Plc and Jos International Breweries Plc – followed, falling by 4.9 per cent to close at N77 and N2.89 per share respectively.

Afribank Plc lost 4.9 per cent to close at N2.33 per share, while Oceanic Bank International Plc, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc and Intercontinental Bank Plc shed 4.8 per cent each.

Mobil Nigeria Plc, on the other hand, recorded the highest price appreciation, rising by five per cent or N7.05 to close at N148.05 per share.

Cadbury Nigeria Plc also gained 4.9 per cent or N1.35 to close at N28.47 per share, while Champion Breweries Plc, and Japaul Oil and Maritime Services added 4.7 per cent and 4.6 per cent to close at N3.10 and N1.79 per share in that order.

 

Source: Punch