Banking equities at Nigerian bourse - The poor performance of the equities listed on the banking sub-sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) is due largely to the downturn in the global stock market, according to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

“First of all, on the issue of banking stock or any stock in Nigeria, we have to look at it within the context of global stock market performance,' the private Thisday newspaper quoting him as saying Monday.

'Wall Street is not trading well; Europe is not trading well also. This (the NSE) is a market that also has a lot of foreign funds and we have the sovereign debt crisis in Europe and unemployment issue in the United States. So what is happening in Nigeria is not necessarily tied to the local market, but also to the global market, because the funds don’t just come from the local market,' he said.

Sanusi added: “As for the banks, it is natural that if you are having mergers and acquisitions, people will wait. Most of the shares (rescued banks) are on technical suspension, as soon as the process is completed, then we will begin to see upward movement in stocks.”

The market capitalization of the Nigerian bourse has fallen from 8.020 trillion naira in January 2011 to 6.725 trillion naira last Friday (US$1=150 Naira).

Pana 12/11/2011