…As NSE index plunges by 4%
By Omodele Adigun
THE Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has pledged the resolve of the National Assembly to enact laws that will enable the Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC) to prosecute any offenders for market infractions.
Dogara, who dropped the hint during his visit to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) recently, lamented that the absence of such power caused the 2008 meltdown.
“Recall that the crash in the market did not occasion any serious prosecution of those who perpetrated the fraud.. If the market retains the capacity to deal with those that abuse the market, then definitely something would be done. In the past, that has not been the practice. We were not able to deal with those who perpetrated the malpractices that led to the crash in the market.
“But what we are doing right now is that we are amending certain principles in the Investment and Securities Tribunal (IST), Investment and Securities Act (SA) 2007, Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) and some other legislations to ensure that the regulators are on top of their jobs ,at least to attain the legal tools, the capacity to be able to punish severely those who perpetrate malpractices in the market, those stockbrokers who are fraudulent. When we start dealing with this, and our citizens see that there is transparency on part of the authority, that if something happens, it can immediately be dealt with, then investors’ confidence will come back.”.
Meanwhile, the NSE All- Share Index and Market Capitalisation fell by 3.98 per cent to close last week at 27,659.44 and N9.5 trillion respectively.
Similarly, all other Indices finished lower during the week, with the exception of the NSE Consumer Goods Index that gained 0.89 per cent, while the NSE ASeM Index closed flat.
When business ended for the week, the investors traded 1.350 billion shares worth N9.287 billion in 18,679 deals as against the 1.149 billion shares valued at N13.616 billion exchanged the previous week in 21,868 deals.
The Financial Services Industry led the activity chart with 1.148 billion shares valued at N4.861 billion traded in 11,668 deals, contributing 85.01 per cent to the turnover. The Conglomerates Industry followed with 73.19 million shares worth N238.895 million in 1,058 deals. The third place was occupied by the Consumer Goods Industry with a turnover of 60.336 million shares worth N2.409 billion in 3,041 deals.
Trading in the stocks of Skye Bank, UBA and FBN Holdings accounted for 573.927 million shares worth N1.25 billion in 3,745 deals, contributing 42.51 per cent to the turnover.