BY LAZARUS IBEABUCHI

The Nigeria Stock Exchange, NSE said it will develop and launch an Industrial Goods Index by January 2014.

In a statement, Director General of the Exchange, Oscar Onyema said that the Industrial Goods Sector was listed on November 5, 1992, and has 27 companies, adding that 26 of these are quoted on the Main Board and one on ASeM.

Oscar said that the Year-to-Date (YTD) performance of the sector is +8.54 per cent.

“Comparing this with global Industrial Goods performance shows that the Sector can do better.  FTSE 350 Industrial Goods &Services has YTD of 13.23 per cent; S&P Industrial Index, 12.15 per cent; MSCI Egypt Industrial Index, 38.53 per cent and FTSE/JSE African Industrial Index, 25.11 per cent,” he said.

He said the NSE has laid Corporate Governance on the front burner as one of the vital elements for ensuring a sound investment environment and maximising shareholder returns.

“The NSE will continue to consistently enforce its rules on Corporate Governance in a firm and fair manner in order to build a strong investment climate for market participants. We cannot afford to do otherwise if we are to become the gateway to African markets.”

He stressed that it is imperative for companies quoted on The Exchange to take advantage of the opportunity presented by the Facts Behind The Figures programme, adding that they should endeavour to raise the quality of their investor relations programmes including disclosing information about their companies to stock market stakeholders regularly.

“It goes without saying that if stockbrokers do not have adequate information about a company -no matter how great the prospects of such a company, it will be difficult for them to appropriately price its stock.

“More importantly, rational investors will find it difficult to invest in a company they do not have adequate information about. These and a lot more reasons make it imperative for companies listed on our bourse to take part actively in managing investor relations,” he said.