The Nigerian Stock Exchange came into existence as Lagos Stock Exchange in 1960. In December 1977 it got its name changed to Nigerian Stock Exchange which at present has various branches with head offices at Lagos. The branches are at Kaduna, Port Harcourt, Kano, Onitsha, Ibadan, Abuja, Yola and Ilorin.
It started with about 19 securities listed for trading but today more than 250 securities are listed on the Exchange. Most listed companies are affiliated to foreign companies and represent economy that range from agriculture to manufacturing and services. It is in the history of 39 years with no frauds or scandals to date that has infused lots of confidence and trust among the investors. This is the reason why capital in the stock business has risen to the tone of $ 3 billion also indicating that the NSE has been considered as one of the most successful businesses in Nigeria.
To increase the flow of foreign investment in Nigeria, the government took initiative to abolish law pertaining to prevention of foreign capital flow. Now investors and operators of any country in the world are free to participate in the activities of this organisation . The governing body of Nigerian Stock Exchange is Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The trading done in the NSE is of shares, corporate and government bonds. The business hours for trading are from 11.00 to 1300 hours daily on weekdays. Now to make trading faster, easier and safer an Automated Trading System is used in Nigerian Stock Exchange, Central Securities Clearing System Limited (CSCS) is responsible for clearing, making settlement and executing delivery of transactions in Nigerian Stock Exchange. This was done to help the house in becoming more investor friendly.
The commission has also launched its Internet System to achieve and overcome the challenges poised by internationalization. The local and international members of the stock exchange can access key market information like trading statistics and corporate trading results.
The issuing houses or stockbrokers decide the prices of new stocks and that of secondary market price is done by stockbrokers only as they determined by the prevalent market forces.
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