10 Brokerage Firms Trade N829.96bn Shares In 6mths

Ten brokerage firms facilitated transactions valued at N829.962 billion on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) in the first six months of the year.

According to the Broker Performance Report for June 30, 2023, this translates to 57.01 per cent of the cumulative trade executed on the Exchange from January to June.

In volume terms, the top ten brokerage firms conducted transactions totalling 76.346 billion shares between them, accounting for 57.64 per cent of the entire trade executed on the exchange in that period.

Apt Securities & Funds topped the ranking with a transaction value of N168.993 billion, a 11.61 per cent of total value. CardinalStone Securities traded shares valued at N161.855 billion, representing 11.12 per cent of total transaction value, while Stanbic IBTC Stockbroker traded an estimated value of N129.92 billion.

United Capital facilitated transactions worth N85.524 billion, while EFG Hermes transacted shares valued at N57.933 billion in six months.

Others are; Meristem Stockbrokers, Cordros Securities, FBN Quest Securities, Chapel Hill Denham Securities and Apel Asset facilitated deals valued at N56.030 billion, N48.201 billion, N44.672 billion, N40.210 billion and N36.622 billion respectively.

Meanwhile, the overall market capitalisation gained N5.095 trillion from N28.103 trillion at the beginning of the year to close at N33.198 trillion at the end of June 30, 2023. Similarly, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited All-Share Index (ASI) rose by 18.17 per cent from 51,595.66 points on December 30, 2022 to 60,968.27 points on June 30, 2023.

Equities trading activity on the Exchange has witnessed an unprecedented rally and buying interest across sectors over the impact of new government’s market reforms on the economic and financial sector and their ability to birth a progressive nation, and attract both foreign and domestic investment.

The chief executive officer of Crane Securities Limited, Mike Ezeh said, the emergence of President Bola Tinubu further energised the market since market participants have hope in his ability to rejig the economy and implement economy friendly policies.

He urged the new government to continue to implement policies that would provide enabling environment for businesses to thrive, saying this would help boost nation’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and attract issuers to the capital market.

Vice president of Highcap Securities, David Adonri said the monumental gain was driven majorly by sentiment arising from the smooth handover and Tinubu bold economic policy changes.

“His prompt change of security chiefs also boosted investors’ confidence. The removal of Godwin Emefiele as CBN governor was another icing on the cake which impressed investors. All these added to the usual end of quarter rally to propel the equities market,” he added.

He further said:“since the huge gain was propelled by investor sentiment, interest in equities in H2, 2023 can only be sustained if the policy changes translate into growth in corporate fundamentals and fall in interest rate, otherwise, we might see a market correction that may purge equities off the sentiment that inflated it in H1, 2023.”