The Nigerian Stock Exchange has ordered operators in the Nigerian capital market to stop daily distribution of capital market information to clients and investors.
This directive was part of the licensing directive given to market operators late last week.
A source from the NSE who confirmed this to our correspondent on Tuesday said the Exchange wanted to be sure of the information sent out by the operators to their clients, adding that perhaps the management was not comfortable with the amount of information doled out by the operators to the investing public.
He said, “It is true that the NSE last week sent out directives to the market operators and restricted the amount of information they are allowed to disseminate to clients and the general public. Also, the Exchange plans to license operators for data distribution.
“I think this is in a bid to control the amount of information that is being let out to the investing public, and ensure that the right information is sent out to the investing community.”
In a note to its clients on Monday, analysts from Meristem Nigeria Limited said due to the directive, the regular price list and daily market reports made available to clients and the investors would be suspended temporarily.
The note said, “This is to notify you that we shall temporarily suspend the mailing of price list, the market update and some other reports, pending the resolve of the newly introduced licensing directive by the NSE.
“The NSE in a recent communication with capital market operators restricted the public dissemination of its data without compliance with the new data dissemination requirement. We hope to resolve this in the earliest possible time with the regulator.
“We regret any inconvenience this may cause. Pending the resumption of mailing of reports, please feel free to contact us should you require any clarification and we will be glad to be of assistance.”
Meanwhile, equity trading activities continued on a positive note on Tuesday with the market capitalisation and the NSE’s All-Share Index rising by 0.2 per cent each to close at N10.655tn and 33,298.74 basis points respectively.
Lafarge WAPCO Cement Plc recorded the highest gain by 5.2 per cent or N3.79 to close at N76.79 per share.