Although the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) all-share index climbed 1.3 per cent to 20,827.17 last week, it witnessed a 34 per cent decline in year 2009, making it the worst performing equity index worldwide among the world’s 91 largest indexes, according to Bloomberg data.

In the first three weeks of 2009 alone, the NSE recorded a 14-per cent decline in capitalisation. That was the second largest in global share price depreciation, coming next to Qatar Stock Exchange, which lost 18 per cent within the same period.

It is estimated that the market has recorded capital flight in the region of N3.12 trillion since the global recession began.

Even stockbrokers are feeling the effects of the market crash. Bolarinwa Akindele, a stockbroker based in Lagos admitted that things have gone so bad that most operators now find it very difficult to survive. "Things are hard as volume of transactions keep dropping almost on daily basis.

"This is happening amidst high cost of doing business," he said. Akindele added that most stock broking firms are now diversifying into other business lines just as investors are moving into real estate sector, which seems to have become more profitable and safer.

As part of the measures to get the market back on its feet, the NSE, last year, appointed five top range stockbroking firms as market makers. They are Greenwich Trust Limited, Chapel Hill Advisory Limited, Diamond Capital & Financial Market Limited, Vetiva Capital Management Limited and Valueline Investment & Securities Limited.

They are expected to maintain a minimum of N2 billion base and a float of N10 billion in each trading day before they can operate in the stock market.

But this did not bring the market back to life.

Analysts believe that the regulators should beef up regulatory functions and monitor the activities of all market operators closely. This and other highlighted steps are needed to restore investors’ confidence and return the market back to profitability.