Economy
NGX Assures Investors Efficient Market to Enhance Securities Lending
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited has promised to collaborate with market stakeholders to enhance securities lending transactions and provide an efficient and liquid market for investors.
The Divisional Head of Capital Markets at the NGX, Mr Jude Chiemeka, while speaking at the 2022 NGX Securities Lending Forum on Tuesday, said this is consistent with the commitment of the bourse to contribute to the growth and development of capital market in Nigeria and Africa.
He said securities lending presents significant benefits to investors in a bull or bear market – either as lenders or borrowers, noting that securities lending transactions have become an important element of capital markets all over the globe.
Mr Chiemeka added that in today’s capital markets, securities seldom lie unutilised, noting that if not being bought and sold in outright market transactions, securities are frequently lent to parties wanting to borrow them, or used as collateral to raise short-term finance.
Quoting a 2021 report done by International Securities Lending Association (ISLA), Mr Chiemeka said the total value of securities made available globally by institutional investors within lending programmes stood at $34 trillion with about $2.9 trillion on-loan globally across all asset classes; 48 per cent government bonds, 39 per cent equities, 6 per cent, corporate debt securities, 4 per cent, ETFs 3 per cent, other fixed income in December 2021.
He also noted that the global securities lending industry generated $9.28 billion in revenue for lenders in 2021, according to DataLend – a 21.2 per cent increase from 2020, adding that this shows the huge potential available in securities lending transactions.
“Domestically, the NGX, in response to the need for market expansion and development, introduced many products – securities lending being one of them – to give investors (retail and institutional) a wide array of asset classes to choose from. Since the Securities Lending and Borrowing (SLB) services was officially launched in the Nigerian market in December 2015, uptake has steadily risen, though not as robust as envisaged.
“According to a report by the exchange, in 2020, the market recorded impressive transactions, with about 7.4 million units worth N95.2 million traded. In 2021, while the volume in traded equities fell to about 6.8 million units the value grew to N513 million”, he said.
The Divisional Head explained that from the lender’s point of view, the benefits of securities lending include the ability to earn additional income through the fee charged to the borrower to borrow the security while adding that from the borrower’s point of view, it allows them to take positions like short selling. It also gives investors more options to take different views on the market.
“It is vital in the development of the capital market by providing liquidity, which in turn reduces the cost of trading and promotes price discovery.
“The exchange no doubt remains keen to provide an efficient and liquid market for investors and businesses in Africa, to save and access capital and investments.
“We promise to continue our collaboration with all market stakeholders, to collectively contribute towards the enhancement of securities lending transactions, and ultimately towards the growth and development of capital market in Nigeria and Africa at large,” he said.
On his part, the Managing Director of Stanbic IBTC Nominee Limited, Mr Majiyagbe Babatunde, while giving a historical breakdown on how securities lending has evolved said the securities lending market which started over 40 years ago has grown, generating about $9.28 billion (N4.2 trillion) in revenue for lenders in 2021 and went up by 21.20 per cent from 2020 globally.
“With Nigeria reporting N600 million in trade value and N5bn assets pledged by lenders, only a few trades have been done in the securities lending universe. Given the size of the capitalization of the equities market and how mature we have now become, the market needs to do more.
“There also needs to be liquidity of the Securities Lending market. Unfortunately, there has been so much reliance on the period when the market goes long without proper planning for when the market goes short.
“Securities lending will create value for both situations so that even when the market goes short, you borrow and sell off and buy back when the securities have become low. In the end, there are equal benefits for all players in the market with the Securities Lending market,” he added.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Five securities pulled down the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.72 per cent on Friday, August 14, cutting the market capitalisation by N47.04 billion to N2.689 trillion from N2.727 trillion, and slicing the NASD Security Index (NSI) by 78.37 points to 4,465.83 from 4,532.03 points.
11 Plc led the price decliners yesterday after its price went down by N15.03 to N230.00 per share from N245.03 per share. MRS Oil Plc weakened by N13.20 to N118.80 per unit from N132.00 per unit, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc slid by N10.30 to N99.46 per share from N109.76 per share, Okitipupa Plc fell by N6.99 to N270.01 per unit from N277.00 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc dipped by N2.00 to N20.00 per share from N22.00 per share.
Business Post reports that the OTC securities exchange recorded four gainers during the session, led by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which appreciated by N9.85 to N169.85 per unit from N160.00 per unit. IPWA Plc gained 70 Kobo to close at N10.41 per share versus N9.71 per share, Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc rose by 4 Kobo to 54 Kobo per unit from 50 Kobo per unit, and Geo-Fluids Plc improved by 1 Kobo to N2.06 per share from N2.05 per share.
The volume of trades soared by 64.8 per cent to 3.2 million units from the previous session’s 1.9 million units, the value of transactions jumped by 78.2 per cent to N375.7 million from N210.8 million, and the number of deals surged by 35.3 per cent to 46 deals from 34 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc was the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 79.0 million units exchanged for N5.7 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the day 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 traded for N415.7 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
The dominance of the bears on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited was consolidated on Friday, after further inflicting an 0.12 per cent loss at the close of trading activity.
All the key sectors of the local stock market turned red yesterday as a result of sustained profit-taking, though the industrial goods space was flat.
The insurance counter lost 1.49 per cent, the energy index shed 0.63 per cent, the consumer goods segment declined by 0.46 per cent, and the banking sector tumbled by 0.23 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) retreated by 398.18 points to 242,619.20 points from 243,017.38 points, and the market capitalisation receded by N257 billion to N156.624 trillion from N156.881 trillion.
Fortis Global Insurance lost 9.31 per cent to trade at N2.63, Omatek depreciated by 9.04 per cent to N1.51, John Holt slipped by 9.00 per cent to N9.10, RT Briscoe slumped by 7.94 per cent to N11.60, and Dangote Sugar went down by 7.79 per cent to N64.55.
But International Energy Insurance gained 9.92 per cent to sell for N5.32, Trans-Nationwide Express appreciated by 9.65 per cent to N2.84, Guinea Insurance improved by 6.67 per cent to 80 Kobo, Regency Alliance grew by 6.25 per cent to 85 Kobo, and Japaul jumped by 5.36 per cent to N2.95.
The market breadth index remained negative, with 30 price losers and 21 price gainers, indicating weak investor sentiment.
The level of activity contracted yesterday, with the trading volume, value, and number of deals down by 66.67 per cent, 10.65 per cent, and 5.60 per cent, respectively.
This was because market participants transacted 1.4 billion shares worth N45.3 billion in 39,134 deals during the session compared with the 4.2 billion shares valued at n50.7 billion traded in 41,454 deals on Thursday.
Fortis Global Insurance was the most active equity for the day, with a turnover of 874.1 million units valued at N2.4 billion, Cornerstone Insurance sold 100.3 million units worth N506.5 million, Universal Insurance traded 56.7 million units for N44.5 million, Sterling Holdings exchanged 53.3 million units worth N402.9 million, and MTN Nigeria transacted 44.6 million units valued at N31.4 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira maintained stability against the United States Dollar in the different segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Friday, August 14, according to data obtained by Business Post.
At the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), the local currency remained unchanged at N1,357.65/$1, but lost N6.05 against the Pound Sterling to trade at N1,840.10 versus the previous session’s N1,834.05/£1, and depreciated against the Euro by N4.70 to sell for N1,571.70/€1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,567.00/€1.
At the black market, the Nigerian currency traded flat against the Dollar at N1,395/$1, but gained N3 at the GTBank forex desk to quote at N1,364/$1 versus Thursday’s exchange rate of N1,367/$1.
Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that interbank FX transactions surged by 51.2 per cent to $119.594 million from $79.097 million. These transactions were executed in 137 deals, higher than the 98 deals recorded a day earlier.
FX inflows from exporters, remittances and other sources, alongside demand from importers and individuals requiring Dollars, continue to shape market conditions.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market recovered yesterday after experiencing a downturn in the previous sessions following reports that index provider MSCI has proposed new “non-operating company” screens for its Global Investable Market Indexes. Although the framework does not explicitly target cryptocurrency, it evaluates whether a company’s core operating assets constitute more than 50 per cent of its total holdings.
Heavy digital asset treasury adopters, including Strategy and Metaplanet, fail the proposed criteria and face potential removal during upcoming index rebalancings. While inclusion in major equity benchmarks previously allowed passive index funds and ETFs to automatically acquire these stocks, their removal could trigger forced institutional selling.
Dogecoin (DOGE) grew by 0.7 per cent to $0.07, Binance Coin (BNB) expanded by 0.6 per cent to $611.34, Ethereum (ETH) added 0.4 per cent to trade at $1,879.65, and Bitcoin (BTC) increased by 0.2 per cent to $63,045.87, with Ripple (XRP), the US Dollar Tether (USDT), and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) flat at $1.00, respectively.
But Cardano (ADA) lost 1.2 per cent to trade at $0.1795, TRON (TRX) shed 0.4 per cent to finish at $0.3323, and Solana (SOL) declined by 0.2 per cent to $75.60.
