COVID-19: NSE recounts experience of 1yr of remote trading

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday recounted experiences of one year of remote trading occasioned by the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The NSE in a statement said it activated business continuity plan which saw the transition to remote trading in support of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Exactly 365 days later, the Exchange continues to maintain seamless trading and business operations recording no down time, and delivering exceptional value to stakeholders.

“The Exchange has remained an attractive platform for issuers and investors to meet their investment objectives, thanks to its steady and consistent capacity building in technology, automation and digitisation of its operations over the years.

“It is, therefore, no surprise that the Exchange has recorded several notable achievements since it began remote trading,” said the statement.

Listing some of the achievements recorded during the period, the local bourse said it made giant strides in its aspiration to demutualise in the past year of working from home and remote trading.

“Following regulatory approvals from the Securities and Exchange Commission and Corporate Affairs Commission, NSE announced its demutualisation earlier this month and has now embarked on its transition as Nigerian Exchange Group Plc to the ‘NGX’ era,” it said

On market performance, the Exchange said that it would display remarkable resilience in providing stakeholders with a platform to raise capital and invest.

The statement said that in 2020, the market capitalisation of all securities listed on The Exchange increased to N38.5 trillion, representing a 49 per cent increase from 2019.

“In the equities market, the NSE All-Share Index delivered a return of 50 per cent closing the year as the best performing stock exchange in the world according to Bloomberg.

“The Exchange Traded Funds market also experienced its best year with a 272.30 per cent increase in market capitalisation; and the bond market capitalisation rose by 35.52 per cent.

“In addition, over N4.03 trillion was raised in on the NSE in 2020 and over N722 billion has been raised already in 2021 by governments and corporates across asset classes,” it said.