The Nigerian Stock Exchange was established in 1960 as the Lagos Stock Exchange. In December 1977 it became The Nigerian Stock Exchange, with branches established in some of the major commercial cities of the country. There are now eight branches of The Nigerian Stock Exchange. Each branch has a trading floor, some of them electronic. The head office in Lagos was opened in 1961; Kaduna branch in 1978; Port Harcourt, 1980; Kano, 1989; Onitsha, February 1990; Ibadan, August 1990; Abuja Area Office, 1999; Yola, 2002; and Benin, 2005.

The Exchange started operations in Lagos in 1961 with 19 securities listed for trading. Currently, there are 276 securities listed on The Exchange, made up of 17 Government Stocks, 50 Industrial Loans (Debenture/Preference) Stocks and 209 Equity/Ordinary Shares of Companies, with a total market capitalization of N2.23 trillion.

Many of the listed companies have foreign/multinational affiliations and represent a cross-section of the economy, ranging from agriculture through manufacturing to services.

OPERATORS:The market has in place a tested network of stockbrokerage firms, issuing houses practicing corporate law firms, and over 50 quality firms of auditors and reporting accountants (most with international links).

The Stock Exchange and most of the nation’s stockbroking firms and issuing houses are staffed with creative financial engineers that can compete anywhere in the world. Therefore, the market has in place a network of intermediating organizations that can effectively and creditably meet the growing needs of investors in Nigeria.

Integrity is the watchword of The Stock Exchange. Market operators subscribe to the code “Our word is our bond”. Thus, public trust in the Nigerian stock market has grown tremendously, with over three million individual investors and hundreds of institutional investors (including foreigners who own about 47% of the quoted companies) using the facilities of The Exchange.

TRADING SYSTEM:The Nigerian Stock Exchange has been operating an Automated Trading System (ATS) since April 27, 1999, with dealers trading through a network of computers connected to a server.

The ATS has facility for remote trading and surveillance. Consequently, many of our dealing members trade online from their offices in Lagos and from our Abuja Area Office, Kano, Port Harcourt, Yola, and Benin branches of The Exchange. The Exchange is in the process of connecting more branches for online real time trading. Trading on The Exchange starts at 10 a.m. every business day and closes at 12 noon.

PRICING:The Nigerian Capital Market was deregulated in 1993. Consequently, prices of new issues are determined by issuing houses/stockbrokers, while on the secondary market prices are made by stockbrokers only. The market/quote prices, along with the All-Share Index, are published daily in The Stock Exchange Daily Official List, The Nigerian Stock Exchange CAPNET (an intranet facility), our website (nigerianstockexchange.com), newspapers, and on the stock market page of the Reuters Electronic Contributor System. Our on-line code in the Reuters Network is NSXA-B.

THE ALL-SHARE INDEX:The Exchange maintains an All-Share Index formulated in January 1984 (January 3, 1984 = 100). Only common stocks (ordinary shares) are included in the computation of the index. The index is value-weighted and is computed daily.

CLEARING, DELIVERY AND SETTLEMENT:Clearing, Settlement and Delivery of transactions on The Exchange are done electronically by the Central Securities Clearing System Limited (CSCS), a subsidiary of The Stock Exchange. The CSCS Limited (“the Clearing House”) was incorporated in 1992 as part of the effort to make the Nigerian stock market more efficient and investor-friendly. Apart from clearing, settlement and delivery, the CSCS Limited offers custodian services. Transaction cycle is T + 3.

STOCK MARKET LEGISLATIONS: Transactions in the stock market are guided by the following legislations, among others:
¨Companies & Allied Matters Act of 1990.
¨Investments & Securities Act of 1999.
¨Nig. Invest. Promotion Com. Act of 1995.
¨Foreign Exchange Monitoring (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act of 1995.
¨Trustees Investment Act of 1990.
¨The Pension Act of 2004.

REGULATION:Transactions on The Exchange are regulated by The Nigerian Stock Exchange, as a self-regulatory organisation (SRO), and the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), which administers the Investments & Securities Act of 1999.

FOREIGN INVESTMENT:In 1995, the Federal Government abrogated the Exchange Control Act of 1962 and the Nigerian Enterprise Promotion Decree of 1989. Consequently, foreigners now participate in the Nigerian capital market both as operators and investors. There are no limits to the percentage of foreign holding in any company registered in the country.