Economy

SEC Urges Investors to Explore Opportunities in Capital Market

Published

6 years ago

06/05/2020

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Acting Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms Mary Uduk, has advised investors to look into the capital market as an avenue to create wealth.

She said in Abuja on Tuesday that the space has the potential to minimise the drastic effects of the coronavirus pandemic ravaging the world and businesses at the moment.

“We must continue to make the best we can of the situation. As a regulator, we have put measures in place to ensure our market does not shut down, trade is presently going on at the various exchanges that make up our market.

“The Nigerian Stock Exchange is continuing with trading, the FMDQ and all the exchanges are actually continuing and everything is going well,” she said.

According to her, SEC ensured that the capital market remained active despite the lockdown because it wanted residents to continue to make money to sustain them in this period.

However, she noted that the pandemic, which led to a lockdown of three parts of the country for five weeks, has had a tremendous negative impact on Nigeria’s economy and lives of citizens.

But she urged Nigerians to remain resolute and explore opportunities available in the capital market, noting that, “We are leveraging technology to continue our activities. Initially, people were afraid that technology would have bad effects like loss of jobs, but right now it has become a saving grace.”

“So, most of us have put our Business Continuity Plans (BCP) in process. Staff are working, we are interacting with market operators who are also working, and our market is open.

“We released three circulars concerning actions against COVID-19. One of them was to request Capital Market Operators and organisations we regulate to send us reports on their Business Continuity Plans and processes (BCP) and as you can see the market has been trading as everyone activated their BCPs.

“We have also requested public companies to continue to send out information to ensure investors are informed. They are to give out information on how COVID–19 would affect them, and if possible, make forecasts and outlooks to let investors know how they expect the pandemic to affect their operations and profitability,” she added.

Ms Uduk stated that before the partial easing of the lockdown, both the SEC and stakeholders in the market were all working remotely adding that these were done in a bid to ensure there is no shut down.

She expressed satisfaction with the way the market is going during these challenging times and urged investors to continue to invest as the market is safe.

On investor confidence in this period of COVID-19, Ms Uduk said the commission has many measures in place to improve market confidence.

She described investor protection as one of the major mandates of the SEC which is viewed seriously knowing that investors will not come to the market in the absence of adequate protections for them.

“One of the ways we protect investors is the e-dividend system we have put in to ensure investors get their dividends directly.

“Dividends do not have to be routed through stockbrokers any longer. We also have the Direct Cash Settlement, Complaints Management Framework, Transmission of shares among others initiatives to protect investors.

“We also have continued to educate investors on how to approach the market, we have continued to ensure improvement of market conduct, and we are working to deepen the market to ensure there is improved confidence. We are optimistic that confidence in the market will continue to improve,” she said.

The SEC boss added that another form of investor protection the Commission continues to offer is to ensure that market conduct is at its best, as the SEC ensures that registered capital market operators treat investors fairly and obey the rules of the market.

Economy

Four Securities Erase N51.17bn from NASD Exchange

Published

23 hours ago

27/06/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

Four securities weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.95 per cent on Friday, erasing N41.17 billion from the bourse, which had its market capitalisation at N2.567 trillion compared with the previous session’s N2.618 trillion.

In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) decreased at the close of business by 85.28 points to 4,277.07 points from 4,362.32 points.

The price decliners were led by 11 Plc, which gave up N20.50 to sell at N200.50 per share compared with the preceding day’s N221.00 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc dropped N16.94 to close at N155.20 per unit versus Thursday’s closing price of N172.14 per unit, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc went down by N2.11 to N84.68 per share from N86.79 per share, and Afriland Properties Plc lost 11 Kobo to end at N16.74 per unit, in contrast to the N16.85 per unit it closed a day earlier.

During the trading day, the value of transactions jumped by 172.1 per cent to N29.9 million from the preceding session’s N10.9 million, and the volume of trades soared by 136.5 per cent to 955,096 units from the previous 403,901 units, while the number of deals went down by 11.4 per cent to 31 deals from 35 deals.

Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active 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 worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 68.6 million units sold for N4.7 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 exchanged for N8.4 billion, trailed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.

Economy

Cautious Trading, Profit-taking Weaken Nigeria’s Stock Exchange by 0.66%

Published

24 hours ago

27/06/2026

Dipo Olowookere

By Dipo Olowookere

The last trading session of this week on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended on a negative note, with a 0.66 per cent loss on Friday.

This was influenced by sustained selling pressure and cautious trading, which forced investors into profit-taking.

Data obtained by Business Post showed that the energy sector fell by 4.66 per cent, the insurance counter dipped by 2.23 per cent, the consumer goods index depreciated by 0.96 per cent, and the banking segment shed 0.28 per cent, while the industrial goods space remained unchanged.

At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) of Nigeria’s stock exchange went down by 1,531.81 points to 232,049.02 points from 233,580.83 points, and the market capitalisation dropped N983 billion to settle at N148.905 trillion compared with Thursday’s N149.888 trillion.

Aradel was the worst-performing equity after it lost 10.00 per cent to close at N1,417.50. International Energy Insurance slipped by 9.95 per cent to N5.79, Trans-Nationwide Express depreciated by 9.89 per cent to N3.28, eTranzact crashed by 9.79 per cent to N14.75, and UPDC slumped by 9.72 per cent to N28.12.

The best-performing equity for the day was Universal Insurance, which gained 6.32 per cent to close at N1.01, McNichols grew by 5.52 per cent to N8.60, Linkage Assurance expanded by 4.67 per cent to N1.57, NGX Group appreciated by 4.35 per cent to N120.00, and Transcorp increased by 3.62 per cent to N41.50.

As look at the activity level indicated that investors traded 388.7 million stocks worth N18.4 billion in 44,631 deals compared with the 393.7 million stocks valued at N19.2 billion executed in 45,813 deals a day earlier, representing a decline in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 1.27 per cent, 4.17 per cent, and 2.58 per cent, respectively.

Economy

Official FX Market Sees Naira Dip to N1,380.93/$1

Published

24 hours ago

27/06/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira recorded a loss of 82 Kobo or 0.06 per cent against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, June 26, exchanging at N1,380.93/$1, in contrast to the previous day’s rate of N1,380.11/$1.

Equally, the domestic currency further weakened against the Pound Sterling in the official FX market yesterday by N6.06 to settle at N1,824.90/£1 versus the preceding session’s N1,818.84/£1, and lost N10.74 on the Euro to sell at N1,577 .58/€1 versus N1,566.84/€1.

At the GTBank forex counter, the Naira depreciated against the greenback during the session by N4 to close at N1,387/$1, in contrast to Thursday’s value of N1,383/$1, and at the parallel market, it was unchanged at N1,395/$1.

Interbank FX activity among financial institutions has fluctuated amid a sharp slowdown in forex market interventions by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as it allows demand and supply to move the market.

Also, a stronger greenback has generally put significant pressure on emerging-market currencies.

Nigeria has accessed the first tranche of a proposed $5 billion derivatives financing arrangement with First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC, the largest lender in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The $5 billion facility, approved by the National Assembly earlier this year, is part of the federal government’s plan to diversify external financing sources and reduce borrowing costs. Structured as a Total Return Swap with First Abu Dhabi Bank, proceeds are earmarked for refinancing debt and supporting infrastructure financing.

If the proceeds are brought into the country through the official FX market, the transaction will increase the currency reserves or Dollar liquidity.

At the cryptocurrency market, Solana (SOL) grew by 2.2 per cent to $71.92, Cardano (ADA) gained 1.1 per cent to trade at $0.1474, Ripple (XRP) also appreciated by 1.1 per cent to $1.05, Dogecoin (DOGE) expanded by 0.9 per cent to $0.0755, and Ethereum (ETH) improved by 0.4 per cent to $1,578.84.

On the flip side, TRON (TRX) slid 0.6 per cent to $0.3203, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 0.3 per cent to $564.33, and Bitcoin fell by 0.2 per cent to $60,219.37, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.