Stanley Opara
The confidence of investors in the country’s capital market is gradually returning as can be seen by the positive numbers in recent weeks, the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers has said.
The institute, thus, urged the government, the Central Bank of Nigeria and other regulators to remain consistent in their resolve to tackle the issues that had held down the economy and the capital market in particular in recent years.
Speaking at a press conference on the proposed national workshop of the CIS, the Chairman, Organising Committee, Alhaji Umaru Kwairanga, said such positive moves would further boost investors’ confidence and guarantee market stability.
He said, “The capital market has been on a rebound in 2017, especially, from the end of the first quarter till now. Recent initiatives taken by the CBN to solve the problem of chronic scarcity of forex has boosted the economy and the capital market in particular.
“The All-Share Index has swung into positive territory after months of persistent declines and trading volumes have increased dramatically in the last couple of months. I would say the Nigerian capital market has done quite well in the last couple of months.”
Kwairanga said in view of the foregoing and the need to encourage the government to leverage on the capital market to finance this year’s budget deficit, it had become imperative to create a platform for cross fertilisation of ideas.
“In pursuit of this noble goal, we have therefore decided to hold a strategic national workshop with the theme: Transiting from recession to global power: A working template for Nigeria, slated for Abuja on July 4. This theme is consistent with our collective belief that what has happened in the last year is an aberration,” he added.
He said the macro economic instability impacted trading on the NSE very badly, as the index and market capitalisation were down by almost five per cent, while the uncertainty lasted and trading volumes halved from previous years.
“As you know , participation in our capital market has been slightly skewed in favour of foreign portfolio investors for most of the past decade and this category of investors refused to participate in the Nigerian capital market while the forex issues persisted. I believe the drastic dip in liquidity of the market was partly due to the refusal of this category of investors to play in the market while the macro economic issues were prevalent,” he explained.
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