Download NSE DGs pronouncement today may determine market direction

NSE DGs pronouncement today may determine market
direction
In the wake of improved market activity on the floor of the Nigerian
Stock Exchange (NSE) which led to a recorded four percent gain in just
one week, Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, director-general of the Nigerian Stock
Exchange, will today appraise the Exchange’s 2009 performance and
review activities of the capital market.
The outcome of the assessment will help investors know how to
channel their resources into the market, this year. Onyiuke’s market
appraisal is coming barely five days after the new director-general of
the Nigerian Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), Arunma Oteh,
promised to direct all her energy towards fulfilling the commission’s
mission statement of developing a capital market that is fair,
transparent and efficient and that is comparatively the best in Africa
and the world.
As the Nigerian capital market starts the year 2010 on a positive note,
market analysts are beginning to realise the need for decision makers
in the Nigerian stock market to continue to send the right signals
about the critical importance of integrity and transparency by setting
high standards in regulatory enforcement and deepen the market in
terms of new products and in relation to the equity and fixed income
markets,
which
are
being
envisaged
as
vehicles
of
resource
mobilisation for development.
Despite closing the year 2009 on a bullish note amidst share price
losses, Bloomberg had earlier declared the Nigerian Stock Exchange’s
All-Share Index as the worst performing in the world, having reviewed
91 largest indexes across the globe.
While local and foreign investors hope for an improved market
performance in year 2010, not a few investors may still be licking the
wounds inflicted on them by the phenomenal global economic
meltdown, as they lost about N1.97 trillion in the nation’s stock
market, last year.
Besides, with many highly capitalised equities suffering heavy share
price depreciations as a result of increased profit taking and confidence
crisis in the sector, investors diverted most of their portfolio to the
over-the-counter bond market.
BUSINESSDAY January 12, 2010