Economy
NASD to Launch Investor Protection Fund, Strengthen Trading in H2 2021
By Ashemiriogwa Emmanuel
Following a very impressive first-half performance, the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange is set for an active second half of 2021.
In this half of the year, there are plans to commence the NASD Investor Protection Fund (IPF), among other implementations to further strengthen the unlisted securities bourse.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NASD, Mr Bola Ajomale, while speaking at a webinar held last Friday, which was monitored by Business Post, stated that the IPF scheme is to compensate investors with genuine claims of pecuniary loss resulting from insolvency, bankruptcy or negligence of a capital market operator.
In addition, he said there are also plans to implement the Financial Information Exchange (FIX) Protocol which will be used to disseminate price and trade information among investment banks and broker-dealers.
He added that there will be the implementation of a tight-coupling to Central Securities Depository (CSD) in the second half of the year which provides securities accounts, central safekeeping services and asset services in helping to ensure the integrity of securities issues.
“We believe these plans will come into fruition in the second half of 2021. We are trying to get market investors into different asset classes to allow investors to participate in the market through buying into funds and several asset classes.
“With ETFs, you are allowed to buy into asset classes that allow you to hedge against risks. We are going to work according to guidelines issued by the SEC on the process of tokenization. When we are set, we will run a web shot of it and be sure,” he stated.
According to him, there are moves to launch a mobile application by the end of the third quarter.
“We are working on making it standardised; engage all operators or participating institutions in the market and then run a test to get feedback,” he said.
Speaking on strategies for the NASD to attract more foreign investors, the NASD helmsman said, “The OTC market we operate is one where we see foreign investors come in for the long term stocks and take a short position in a short period and sometimes, they come in a position (long or short) in a particular stock and exit the stock or market leaving Nigerians to buy the awkward end of that stock. So, the OTC market is one for short term positions on stocks.”
He also said the bourse plans to regulate crowdfunded projects to open its crowdfunding portal, VentureRamp, for donor-based crowdfunding which facilitates capital raise for enterprises seeking to fund projects of varying sizes, expansion, new product development, and so on.
Mr Ajomale noted that the exchange will open its dealer category for applicants who want to register with NASD as dealers on the OTC Market while onboarding was set to commence soon.
NASD OTC Securities Q2 Market Performance Breakdown
Meanwhile, NASD recorded a positive market performance at the close of the second quarter of 2021 compared to the previous quarter as its market capitalisation increased by 22.9 per cent to N652.5 billion from the N531 billion recorded in the first quarter of the year.
Similarly, NASD Security Index (NSI) also rose by 1.1 per cent to 754.9 index points from the 747.01 recorded at the end of the first three months of 2021.
Trading activity in the period under review showed that the total value on the market jumped to N7.8 billion from the N1.4 billion, a 457 per cent increase, while the volume also skyrocketed by 936.6 per cent from 41 million units to 425 million units.
This happened as three new companies joined the market in the period under review; the Nigerian Exchange Group Plc, 11 Plc and Capital Bancorp Plc.
This equally led to a rise in the number of deals recorded at the bourse for the quarter under review as investors executed a total of 2,292 deals, 512.8 per cent higher than the 374 recorded in Q1 2021.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The duo of MRS Oil and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.68 per cent on Friday, June 5.
MRS Plc lost N19.00 during the session to sell at N171.00 per share compared with Thursday’s value of N190.00 per share, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc depreciated by N8.70 to finish at N181.68 per unit compared with the preceding session’s N190.38 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation further lost N22.59 billion to close at N2.607 trillion versus the N2.630 trillion it ended a day earlier, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) dropped 37.76 points to settle at 4,358.32 points, in contrast to the previous day’s 4,396.08 points.
The alternative stock market closed the last trading day of this week with a price gainer, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which gained 6 Kobo to quote at N78.40 per share compared with the preceding session’s N78.34 per share. However, it could not prevent the market from going down at the close of business.
Yesterday, the volume of securities bought and sold by investors went down by 50.0 per cent to 140,345 units from the preceding day’s 280,714 units, the value of stocks decreased by 16.5 per cent to N17.9 million from the previous session’s N21.5 million, and the number of deals carried out by market participants fell by 35.7 per cent to 27 deals from the 42 deals recorded on Thursday.
When trading activities closed for the day, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 64.7 million units traded for N4.4 billion.
GNI Plc also ended the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
Renewed interest in financial stocks and others lifted the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by 0.15 per cent on Friday.
Customs Street closed higher yesterday despite the 1.37 per cent loss recorded by the consumer goods sector as a result of profit-taking.
This was offset by gains in the other key sectors of the local bourse, as the insurance counter chalked up 1,14 per cent. The banking space appreciated by 0.90 per cent, the industrial goods segment grew by 0.46 per cent, and the energy sector expanded by 0.01 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 366.00 points to 242,593.31 points from 242,227.31 points, and the market capitalisation gained N235 billion to close at N155.594 trillion compared with the previous day’s N155.359 trillion.
The trio of International Energy Insurance, Abbey Mortgage Bank, and DAAR Communications improved by 10.00 per cent each yesterday to N7.26, N9.35, and N1.98, respectively, while Zichis advanced by 9.39 per cent to N32.38, with Sovereign Trust Insurance up by 8.70 per cent to N2.50.
On the flip side, Academy Press lost 9.84 per cent to quote at N8.25, University Press depreciated by 9.73 per cent to N5.10, Africa Prudential dipped by 2.63 per cent to N12.95, Chams crumbled by 2.44 per cent to N4.00, and International Breweries slipped by 1.59 per cent to N12.35.
Business Post reports that the market breadth index was positive during the session after recording 37 appreciating equities and 14 depreciating equities, implying strong investor sentiment.
Abbey Mortgage Bank led the activity chart with a turnover of 164.1 million units worth N1.5 billion, Ellah Lakes sold 76.7 million units for N767.2 million, Access Holdings transacted 44.8 million units valued at N1.1 billion, Linkage Assurance exchanged 23.0 million units worth N41.2 million, and The Initiates traded 20.2 million units for N562.1 million.
At the close of trades, market participants transacted 608.5 million units worth N32.0 billion in 53,826 deals versus the 588.5 million units valued at N27.9 billion executed in 57,352 deals in the previous session. This showed that the number of deals eased by 6.15 per cent, the volume of transactions rose by 3.40 per cent, and the value of transactions soared by 14.70 per cent.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira further depreciated against the United States Dollar by N3.46 or 0.25 per cent to N1,362.21/$1 from N1,358.75/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, June 5.
However, it appreciated against the Pound Sterling in the same market window during the session by N4.47 to trade at N1,823.59/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,828.06/£1, and gained N7.00 against the Euro to sell at N1,574.58/€1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,581.58/€1.
For another trading session, the Nigerian Naira maintained stability against the Dollar in the parallel market and the GTBank forex counter on Friday at N1,375/$1 and N1,372/$1, respectively.
The Naira is expected to remain strong in the near term, backed by a rise in external reserves, which are nearing $50 billion, enhancing analysts’ confidence about its outlook in the second half of 2026.
Heightened global uncertainty has reduced the incentive for importers and corporates to demand FX, as cautious trade weighs on import needs. Analysts estimate a $40 billion net FX position for the year, a projection anchored in oil windfall gains.
As for the cryptocurrency market, prices remained depressed following a strong US jobs report that spurred markets to price in higher-for-longer interest rates, sending Treasury yields and the dollar up while hammering stocks, especially AI-related names. Crypto markets saw heavy leverage washouts with about $1.6 billion in positions liquidated over 24 hours.
Ethereum (ETH) gave up 4.9 per cent to trade at $1,584.68, Solana (SOL) fell by 3.3 per cent to $63.22, Bitcoin (BTC) crashed by 1.9 per cent to $61,333.23, Dogecoin (DOGE) slipped by 1.8 per cent to $0.0821, and Ripple (XRP) moderated by 1.8 per cent to $1.09.
Further, TRON (TRX) dropped 1.6 per cent to sell at $0.3197, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 1.0 per cent to $581.18, and Cardano (ADA) declined by 0.4 per cent to $0.1589, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) gained 0.07 to sell at $0.9997, and US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $0.9998.
-
Feature/OPED6 years agoDavos was Different this year
-
Travel/Tourism10 years ago
Lagos Seals Western Lodge Hotel In Ikorodu
-
Showbiz3 years agoEstranged Lover Releases Videos of Empress Njamah Bathing
-
Banking8 years agoSort Codes of GTBank Branches in Nigeria
-
Economy3 years agoSubsidy Removal: CNG at N130 Per Litre Cheaper Than Petrol—IPMAN
-
Banking3 years agoSort Codes of UBA Branches in Nigeria
-
Banking3 years agoFirst Bank Announces Planned Downtime
-
Sports3 years agoHighest Paid Nigerian Footballer – How Much Do Nigerian Footballers Earn