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
NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange remained in the negative territory after it further depreciated by 0.64 per cent on Friday, July 24, despite recording four price gainers.
The NASD Security Index (NSI) dropped 27.4 points at the close of business to settle at 4,294.75 points versus the previous day’s 4,383.48 points, while the market capitalisation gave up N16.49 billion to end at N2.577 trillion, in contrast to the N2.594 trillion it ended a day earlier.
The bourse was down during the session amid heavy sell-offs, with the volume of transactions skyrocketing by 693.9 per cent to 2.99 million units from Thursday’s 377,635 units.
Equally, the value of trades went up by 71.6 per cent to N69.4 million from N40.4 million, and the number of deals increased by 41.0 per cent to 55 deals from the preceding day’s 39 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 75.6 million units traded for N5.4 billion.
GNI Plc was also the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, trailed 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.
The market ended the session with four price gainers and two price losers, led by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which lost N7.44 to trade at N136.19 per share compared with the previous day’s N143.63 per share, and CSCS Plc, which declined by N1.64 to N93.63 per unit from N95.27 per unit.
But MRS Oil gained N13.50 to sell at N148.50 per share versus N135.00 per share, Afriland Properties Plc advanced by 56 Kobo to N17.41 per unit from N16.85 per unit, UBN Property Plc surged by 18 Kobo to N1.93 per share from N1.75 per share, and Food Concepts Plc climbed by 1 Kobo to N2.50 per unit from N2.49 per unit.
By Dipo Olowookere
Nigeria’s stock exchange succumbed to profit-taking on Friday, losing 0.19 per cent when the closing gong was hit at 4 pm.
Shares in the banking and energy sectors influenced the decline suffered by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited during the session, as they respectively closed lower by 0.40 per cent and 0.04 per cent.
The industrial goods index was flat yesterday, while the insurance counter gained 0.68 per cent and the consumer goods space chalked up 0.25 per cent. The gains by these two segments could not keep Customs Street in the green territory at the close of business.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) retreated by 474.00 points to 247,357.40 points from 247,831.40 points, and the market capitalisation decreased by N306 billion to N159.588 trillion from N159.894 trillion.
Presco dropped 10.00 per cent during the trading day to close at N2,070.00, Thomas Wyatt crumbled by 9.93 per cent to N3.63, Trans-Nationwide Express plunged by 8.44 per cent to N2.82, Royal Exchange slipped by 7.86 per cent to N1.29, and LivingTrust Mortgage Bank shrank by 7.32 per cent to N3.80.
On the flip side, C&I Leasing improved by 9.48 per cent to N6.35, Cornerstone Insurance rose by 9.09 per cent to N6.00, RT Briscoe jumped by 8.61 per cent to N13.25, Honeywell Flour expanded by 7.38 per cent to N17.45, and Africa Prudential increased by 6.98 per cent to N13.80.
Despite the poor performance, the local bourse recorded a positive market breadth index after finishing with 35 price gainers and 25 price losers, representing strong investor sentiment.
It was a relatively quiet market on Friday, as the activity level dropped, with the trading volume down by 27.72 per cent to 565.5 million units from 782.4 million units, and the trading value contracted by 46.89 per cent to N29.9 billion from N56.3 billion, while the number of deals executed by investors soared by 16.03 per cent to 53,688 deals from 46,273 deals.
Access Holdings was the busiest stock for the session, with a turnover of 128.0 million units sold for N3.8 billion, First Holdco transacted 35.4 million units worth N4.3 billion, Chams exchanged 34.8 million units valued at N154.3 million, Zenith Bank traded 30.4 million units for N3.9 billion, and UBA sold 30.4 million units worth N1.5 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira marked a whole week of appreciation against the United States Dollar on Friday, July 24, further gaining N5.67 or 0.41 per cent to close at N1,362.09/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) compared with N1,367.76/$1 it ended on Thursday.
Equally, the local currency appreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official FX market yesterday by N10.83 to trade at N1,813.62/£1 versus the preceding day’s N1,824.45/£1, and improved against the Euro by N7.68 to settle at N1,549.10/€1, in contrast to the N1,556.78/€1 it was exchanged a day earlier.
However, at the parallel market and GTBank forex counter, the Nigerian currency remained unchanged against the greenback during the session at N1,400/$1 and N1,379/$1, respectively.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) buffer has been strengthened with sustained foreign portfolio inflows and robust foreign reserves, which stand above $52 billion.
The apex bank’s policy signals that the Naira will be stronger in the near term, with Nigeria clearing hurdles with FX reforms and settlement of all backlogs.
However, some traders expect that pressure may come due to foreign-currency buying from fuel importers as they make Dollar purchases to build inventories.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC), in the digital currency landscape, trimmed recent gains as it fell by 2.3 per cent to $63,787.73.
The weak action in the AI momentum trade is feeding through to crypto as well.
Further, Cardano (ADA) dropped 3.7 per cent to close at $0.1615, Solana (SOL) dipped by 2.8 per cent to $73.71, Ripple (XRP) crashed by 2.3 per cent to $1.08, Ethereum (ETH) slid by 1.9 per cent to $1,851.58, Dogecoin (DOGE) retreated by 0.8 per cent to $0.0694, Binance Coin (BNB) contracted by 0.7 per cent to $564.18, and TRON (TRX) lost 0.5 per cent to trade at $0.3292, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
