Bamidele Famoofo
The top 10 stockbrokers registered to render investment services especially in the equities segment of the Nigerian capital market transacted businesses worth N1.49 trillion on behalf of investors (foreign and domestic) within 11 months in the outgoing 2017 financial year.
They were responsible for 94.63 per cent of total revenue generated in the market in the review period.Â
Altogether, the 10 stockbroking firms accounted for sale of 97.89billion ordinary shares  which translated to 67.89 per cent of total volume turnover on the NSE in 11-month period, which ended on November 30, 2017.
Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers Limited (SISL) was topmost among the 10 stockbrokers, who are leading dealing members on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).Â
SISL, a stockbroking firm which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, and member of the Standard Bank Group, was responsible for the chunk of the turnover value and emerged second best in term of volume drive in the review period.
According to data released by NSE this December on the performance of top 10 stockbrokers, SISL accounted for N371.14 billion or 23.54 per cent of turnover value in 11 months in the equities market.Â
“The company was set up to provide world class stockbroking services to local as well as foreign investors in the Nigerian capital market and we are the largest stockbroking house in Nigeria with a market share of over 15.41 per cent of the value of the shares traded on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange in year 2016,†the company claimed.
Following SISL are Rencap Securities (Nig) Limited, Cordros Securities Limited, Meristem Stockbrokers Limited and CSL Stockbrokers Limited, which were most outstanding both in turnover volume and value among the leading 10 firms.
Rencap Securities (Nig) Limited, which is part of the Renaissance Capital Group, an emerging markets-focused investment firm, came a little far away behind SISL on the value chart with N211.41billion representing 13.41 per cent of total value of transactions conducted in the review period. Rencap Securities was however ranked third on the volume chart with 11.16billion units of shares traded for N211.41billion. Rencap came immediately after CSL Stockbrokers Limited on the volume table as it came fourth and accounted for 5.95 per cent of turnover volume.Â
Cordros Securities Limited, which ranked third in terms of turnover value, accounting for 13.25 per cent or N208.88 billion in the review period was not named among top five leaders in turnover volume. Meristem Securities Limited also appeared in the top five value chart with a total turnover value of N164.56billion, averaging N14.96 billion per month and accounting for 10.44 per cent of aggregate turnover by top 10 stockbrokers as at November 2017. However, CSL Stockbrokers Limited, which belongs to the FCMB Group featured both on the top five value and volume charts. Â
The firm with over 30 years operating history on the Nigeria Stock Exchange, came very closely after Meristem on the turnover value table with N162.42billion, accounting for 10.30 per cent in the period. CSLS, a fully owned subsidiary of FCMB Group Plc. which prides itself in providing Institutional and corporate brokerage services to investors and select issuers, ranked third on turnover volume table with 11.16billion units of shares, which represented 7.74 per cent of total turnover by top 10 stockbrokers.
Meanwhile, buying interests in the Nigerian equities have been sustained in recent times as analysts at Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers Limited said it hits a one-month high on Wednesday, December 6, 2017.
Stock market analysts at Cordros Securities Limited as well as the former agreed that the upbeat in the market in 2017, which peaked in the last month of the year, not minding the festive mood, will be sustained by fundamentals.
“The bullish trend continued on the Nigerian bourse as we see some counters touch one-month high. Zenith ($5.1mn) value traded closed the day at N26.04- still trying to break free completely from the sort of N25 resistance level. Interesting to note that we have seen an increased level of domestic participation in the market in recent times. Although, we believe that the underlying fundamentals for most of these counters remain solid, the recent rally might be due to more speculative demandâ€, SISL analysts disclosed.
Their counterparts at Cordros on Wednesday pointed out that the rally in the equities market was as a result of growing demand across most sectors. “The month-to-date and year-to-date returns increased to 2.98 per cent and 45.40 per cent, respectively. We think demand will persist on the back of strong market fundamentalsâ€.
As the end of trading on Thursday on the Nigerian bourse, All Share Index (ASI), which has been on the rise in recent times closed at 39,532.14 as about 1.06 billion units of ordinary shares changed hands in 8,464.00 deals for about N10.16billion. Equity capitalisation closed at N13.77 trillion on Thursday.
