WORRIED by the continued downward trend in the activities of the nation’s capital market, the Federal Government has expressed its concern to the management of the stock exchange.


The Federal Government has thus called for an emergency meeting with the management of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) with the aim of checking the slide in the market.


The trend has caused investors to lose N3 trillion in the last four months.


The Director-General of NSE, Professor Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, disclosed this on Monday while addressing market operators on the floor of the Exchange in Lagos.


Okereke-Onyiuke said the management of the Exchange had arranged a meeting with stockbrokers and bankers to brainstorm on the way to check the continuing slide in the market.


The lull in the market between March and July 2008 had resulted in the loss of investors funds close to about N3 trillion and efforts by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to check it had been to no avail.


Speaking further on the current bearish trend, Okereke-Onyiuke said the NSE was not folding its arms, but had done a lot of research on the issue and discovered that it was the first time in Nigeria.


The NSE Director General, who said brokers had not been briefing shareholders on the issue, noted that “the Exchange is calling for ideas from any brokers or stakeholders on the way forward, that is practicable and workable and capable of moving the market from the present negative territory,” adding that “we will brainstorm and go to Abuja for a meeting called by the government.”


She explained that the market was cyclical in nature, adding that “it has its period of ups and downs. We will not wait for the up period to come, so we decided to take this measure, hoping it will bring the market back to a positive note

So has this or will this in one way or the other affect shareholders?