Top Stockbroking firms in Nigeria trade shares worth N357 billion in Q1 2021

The Nigerian Stock market ended the first quarter of 2021 bearish as the All-Share Index dipped by 3.04% from 40,270.42 points recorded as of December 31st, 2020 to close at 39,045.13 points at the end of Q1 2021.

Meanwhile, the top-performing stockbroking firms in the Nigerian Stock Exchange, traded about 30.16 billion units of shares with a value of N357.48 billion, accounting for 52.63% of the total value of shares traded in the period.

This is according to the Broker performance Report, released by the Nigerian Stock Exchange for the first quarter of 2021.

According to the report, Cardinalstone Securities led the list of stockbroking firms by volume of shares while Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers traded the highest in monetary terms for the period under review.

Stockbrokers by value

The top ten Stockbrokers were responsible for 52.63% of the total amount of shares traded in Q1 2021, trading a total of N357.48 billion worth of shares.

Stanbic IBTC Stockbroker retains the top position in this category, having traded in stocks worth N88.2 billion between January and March 2021, representing 12.99% of the total value of shares traded during this period.

Cardinalstone Securities stood at second on the list with trades in stocks valued at N47.36 billion, accounting for 6.97% of the total value of shares traded in the first quarter of the year.ABSA Securities Nigeria followed closely with its total trades valued at N41.53 billion in the period under review. This represents 6.12% of the total value recorded in the Stock Exchange market.

Rencap Securities also traded in stocks worth N35.81 billion, to stand fourth on the list as it accounted for 5.27% of the recorded trades in monetary terms.EFG Hermes traded a sum of N31.1 billion worth of stocks, which accounted for 4.58% of the total value for the period.

Others include; ESTC Securities (N26.4 billion), Meristem Stockbrokers (24.35 billion), FBN Quest Securities (N24.05 billion), Apel Asset Limited (20.56 billion), and Cordros Securities (18.11 billion).

Stockbrokers by volume

The top ten stockbroking firms for the period under review traded in 30.16 billion units of shares, accounting for 47.92% of the total traded stocks.

Cardinalstone Securities Limited tops the list of stockbroking firms in terms of volume of shares traded as it recorded trades in 5.13 billion units of shares, representing 8.15% of the total volume traded in the bourse for the period.

Morgan Capital Securities followed, having traded in 4.05 billion shares, accounting for 6.43% of the total volume of shares traded between January and March 2021.

Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers, which is a regular on the list traded in 3.79 billion units of shares in the first quarter of the year. This represents 6.03% of the total recorded.

Meristem Stockbrokers Limited stands fourth on the list with trades in 3.56 billion units of shares between January and March 2021, accounting for 5.65% of the total volume recorded.

Atlass Portfolios Limited traded in a total of 3.46 billion units of shares accounting for 5.5% of the total volume recorded in the period under review. Others on the list include; GTI Securities (2.97 billion), Light House Asset Management (2.16 billion), Greenwich Trust Limited (1.87 billion), WSTC Securities (1.62 billion), and Inter-State Securities (1.55 billion).

What you should know

The bearish trend recorded in the stock market during the first quarter of the year can be attributed to rising yields in government securities, profit-taking by investors, reallocation of investment portfolios, and the general downturn in the country’s economy.

Notably, according to the NBS, Nigeria’s inflation surged to a record high of 17.33, unemployment at 33.3% while food inflation (21.79%) galloped to its highest in 15 years.