Economy
Understanding Terms Used in Stock Market (Part 1)
By Dipo Olowookere
The last time, I wrote about key things to take note of before investing in the recharge card business especially with the way fraudsters try to lure unsuspecting victims into the business.
Today, I am focusing on the stock market, explaining some terms used in the sector.
The stock or equity market is one aspect of the capital market some people get confused about because of its high volatility.
By high volatility, I mean you can gain a huge amount in one trade and loss everything in the next transaction. It is unlike the fixed income market, another aspect of the capital market, where at the point of investment, you know what you are getting as profit.
Now to the common terms used in the market.
Share/Equity/Stock
These terms are commonly used interchangeably and they mean the same thing. A share is like an indivisible unit of capital showing you are one of the owners of a company.
When a company, owned by more than one person, is established and registered as a business entity, it must indicate its ownership structure, which is represented by the number of shares held by each of the persons. It is by this percentage the owners share any profit or dividend recorded by the firm during a given period of time.
Now, a company in need of cash to expand its operations can approach the stock exchange to sell its shares to the general public through an Initial Public Offering (IPO), also expanding the number of persons owning stakes in the firm.
When this is done, the stock market regulator, which is the stock exchange, allows trading of the shares of such company on its platform.
The value of these stocks at the market are determined by demand and supply as well as information about company, the sector or the country’s economic and political happenings.
If a company is having an internal crisis that found its way to the public domain, it is natural for some people, who bought shares of the firm, to panic and if they foresee that the crisis could be ‘brutal’, they will quickly offload (sell off) their shares, resulting in many sellers, but less buyers. Like in the elementary Economics, when this happens, the price of the commodity falls; vis-à-vis.
Trade
This is mainly the buying and selling of stocks on the floor of the exchange. It is the process of executing a transaction; selling or buying of shares of a company at the stock market at a particular price.
Deal
It is a single transaction carried out by a shareholder or investor during trading in the stocks of a company at the market.
Volume
The volume of shares is the total number of units of equities traded during a given period of time at the stock exchange. As expected, the volume of shares transacted by investors at any given trading session either rises or falls.
Value
This is the worth of an equity trading at the stock market. In stock market reporting, this could mean the total worth of stocks traded at the market for a given period of time.
Market Capitalisation
This is simply the total value of shares of the company selling its shares at the stock market. For example, if a company has a total of 1,000 shares selling at N5 each, its total capitalisation would be 1000xN5, which gives us N5,000.
As at the close of trading on Thursday, the total value of shares trading at the Nigerian Stock Exchange stood at N13.196 trillion.
All-Share Index (ASI)
The ASI is a bit complex, but I will try to break it down to make it understandable. It is mainly a statistics showing the direction or performance of the stock market.
Because during a trading day, some stocks will appreciate in price, while others will depreciate in value, with some remaining unchanged. As a result, there was the need to have an indicator showing a true reflection the market’s performance at the trading session.
So, in January 1984, the NSE put its index at 100 points and as at yesterday, it closed at 36,427.22 points after gaining 80.42 points.
Bear Market
This is when the market records a loss
Bull Market
This is when the market records a gain
Full Bid
This simply occurs when there are prospective buyers at the stock market but no willing sellers. This happens when investors have information that the stock may appreciate in price and there is a rush to own the stock so as make profit after selling it at a higher price.
Full Offer
This is the direct opposite of ‘full bid’. This occurs when there are prospective sellers of a stock but no buyers.
52 Week High
This is simply the highest value a particular stock was sold at in the past 52 weeks (one year).
52 Week Low
This refers to the lowest value a particular stock was sold at in the past 52 weeks (one year).
I will continue this piece in a subsequent post.
However, before then, please feel free to let me know where you require any further clarification.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Despite signs that Nigeria’s headline inflation is easing, rising food prices continue to threaten the country’s inflation outlook, the chief executive of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Mr Muda Yusuf, has warned.
He noted that structural inflationary pressures in the real economy remain pronounced despite improving macroeconomic stability.
In a policy brief released following the inflation report, he noted that headline inflation eased marginally, while month-on-month change moderated from 1.75 per cent to 1.66 per cent, indicating that headline inflation has largely plateaued.
According to him, the dominant concern in the latest inflation report is the renewed acceleration in food inflation.
This growth, he said, suggested that food prices have resumed an upward trajectory after a brief period of moderation.
Warning that a renewed increase in food inflation has significant economic and social implications, he stressed that food inflation remained the biggest driver of Nigeria’s cost-of-living crisis, stressing that rising food prices continue to erode household purchasing power, worsen poverty and food insecurity while weakening the inclusiveness of the current reform programme.
He maintained that sustained moderation in food prices is critical to improving citizens’ welfare and strengthening public confidence in the ongoing economic reforms.
Acknowledging the easing of core inflation as encouraging, he drew attention to the persistence of urban inflation.
At 16.08 per cent, urban inflation exceeded the national headline inflation rate of 15.91 per cent, while month-on-month urban inflation increased from 1.99 per cent to 2.13 per cent.
According to Mr Yusuf, the figures indicated that inflationary pressures remained particularly intense across urban centres.
He attributed the rising urban inflation partly to increasing population displacement from rural communities affected by insecurity, expressing worry that as more households migrate to urban areas, demand for housing, transportation, utilities and other essential services would increase, adding to inflationary pressures and creating additional urbanisation challenges.
Addressing insecurity in farming communities, he said, was important not only for protecting lives and property and boosting agricultural output but also for easing cost pressures in urban centres, adding that the June CPI data reinforced the view that Nigeria’s inflation challenge is predominantly structural rather than monetary.
On the monetary policy outlook, he said the data do not justify further monetary tightening, arguing that headline inflation has largely stabilised.
The CPPE chief expected the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to retain the current monetary policy rate at its next meeting, adding that the priority is for monetary and fiscal authorities to work together to accelerate structural reforms to expand food supply, improve logistics, reduce energy and production costs, lower debt service costs, as well as strengthen domestic value chains.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Additional shares of Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc have been listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
The new equities were added to the company’s existing stocks on Customs Street on Thursday, July 16, 2026, a notice from the bourse confirmed.
Business Post reports the total new ordinary shares of Sterling Holdings listed yesterday were 13,812,239,000 units.
They were from the offer for subscription of 12,581,000,000 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each sold for N7.00 per share, which was oversubscribed by investors.
The financial institution brought the new shares to the stock exchange to increase its total issued and fully paid-up shares to 65,929,251,414 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each from 52,117,012,414 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each.
“Trading licence holders are hereby notified that an additional 13,812,239,000 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each of Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc were on Thursday, July 16, 2026, listed on the daily official list of Nigerian Exchange Limited.
“The additional shares listed on NGX arose from the company’s offer for subscription of 12,581,000,000 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at N7.00 per share.
“With the listing of the additional shares, the total issued and fully paid-up shares of Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc have now increased from 52,117,012,414 to 65,929,251,414 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each,” the notice read.
By Adedapo Adesanya
President Bola Tinubu has signed a Presidential Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination, establishing a new framework to coordinate the regulation of virtual assets across government agencies as Nigeria seeks to curb fraud while supporting innovation in the digital economy.
The Executive Order, which takes immediate effect, creates a Virtual Asset Council chaired by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to harmonise oversight of cryptocurrencies, tokenised assets, stablecoins, and other digital assets without creating a new regulator.
As part of the new framework, the CBN will establish a regulatory sandbox that will allow eligible firms to test virtual asset products, blockchain solutions, and related services under regulatory supervision before they are introduced to the wider market.
The development was disclosed in a statement issued on Friday by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga.
According to the presidency, the Executive Order responds to the growing complexity of virtual assets, which increasingly cut across the traditional boundaries of currencies, securities, commodities, and payment systems.
The fragmented regulatory environment has left gaps that have exposed Nigeria to money laundering, terrorism financing, cybersecurity and data privacy risks, fraud, and revenue losses.
The government said some unregistered operators have exploited these regulatory gaps to defraud unsuspecting Nigerians, resulting in significant financial losses.
“The Order is designed to close these gaps through supervisory coordination, without introducing new layers of regulation or displacing the mandates of existing agencies,” the statement read.
Under the new framework, the Virtual Asset Council will be chaired by the CBN, with the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) serving as vice chairs. Other members include the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
The Council will provide policy direction, improve cooperation among participating agencies, and work with the Attorney General of the Federation to develop a harmonised legal and institutional framework for the sector.
The Executive Order also establishes a Virtual Asset Office, which will serve as the Council’s operational arm. The office will be domiciled at the CBN and will coordinate information sharing, applications, and reporting among the participating agencies through a shared supervisory technology platform.
The presidency stressed that the Executive Order does not create a new regulator or transfer statutory powers from existing agencies, clarifying that instead, each institution will continue to exercise its existing mandate while working within a coordinated framework.
Under the arrangement, registration of virtual asset businesses will depend on the nature of the service being offered.
Activities classified as securities will continue to be regulated by the SEC, while payment, settlement, custody, and other services involving non-security virtual assets will fall under the CBN.
Where there is uncertainty over regulatory jurisdiction, the Virtual Asset Council will determine the appropriate supervising agency.
“The sandbox will provide a controlled environment in which eligible operators can test and operate virtual asset products, services, and blockchain-based solutions under close supervision, enabling the participating agencies to assess the implications for monetary sovereignty, financial stability, market integrity, consumer protection, financial inclusion, and revenue administration before products reach the wider market,” the statement added.
According to the presidency, the sandbox will enable regulators to evaluate the implications of emerging products for financial stability, monetary sovereignty, consumer protection, financial inclusion, market integrity, and revenue administration.
The central bank is expected to announce further details of the sandbox.
