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Stakeholders condemn trading time extension on stock market

By on March 26, 2011

AS the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) plan to further tinker with the trading hours on the stock market, stakeholders have said that the move will further increase idle moment being experienced by the dealing members on the floor of the Exchange.

It will be recalled that the SEC and NSE had informed operators and investors in the market that the Exchange would, in the next two months, consider whether or not it would be extending the trading time, following foreign investors’ request for adequate time to play the domestic stock market.

The NSE and SEC’s time extension will see trading hours extend from 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm.

It would be recalled that the NSE had, last December, extended the trading hours from 9.30 am to 2.30 pm as against the 9.30 am to 12.30 pm, even as the Exchange has said that the time extension had allowed foreign participation in the market to increase by 68 per cent in the last couple of months.

The Exchange had also noted that the new time extension would increase the volume of transactions and allow American and other advanced countries trade in the market.

In his own comment, a senior broker on the condition of anonymity, said the extension was not necessary as it was not going to improve the performance of the market.

He noted that it was preferable to go back to the old trading hour of 9.30 to 12.30.

The President of the Progressive Shareholders Association, Mr. Boniface Okezie, said the measure by the NSE was no big deal as it would neither change nor improve the lot of the market.

He said the move, which is tantamount to share waste of resources, was a misplaced priority. “What the market could not sell or buy when it had a short time, will it now make the transaction when the time is extended? Until the regulatory put their house in order, things will not improve in the market,” he added.

Source : Tribune