With the myriads of problems facing the nation’s stock market, stakeholders have expressed divergent views on the relevance of the routine ‘Bell Ringing’ exercise at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and the impact on the market.

While some stakeholders believe that the ceremony has increased stock market visibility and attracted more stakeholders, others argued that the impact has not reflected on the market.

The Managing Director of High Cap Securities, David Imafidon, explained that the NSE uses the gong sounding ceremony to publicise itself and attract stakeholders to its platform.

According to him, efforts must be made not to trivialise the programme, considering the level of visibility and competitiveness the exercise has attracted to the exchange.

Also speaking, the Managing Director of High Cap Securities Limited, Mike Eze, who described the exercise as a routine, said: “Bell ringing in any stock exchange is the exclusive preserve of the President of the stock exchange.

The President, who is not on ground day to day, on his part, delegates this function to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the exchange, who is on ground running the exchange day to day.

“The CEO in his wisdom, may decide to invite any reputable hand to assist him in bringing the market to a close. This is the interplay you see going on every day in the last eight years. It is just the process of opening and closing of a stock market.”

The Managing Director of Dependable Securities Limited, Chinenyem Anyanwu, said: “It has a way of impacting the market positively by making the stock Exchange and the capital market to always be in the news, sometimes occupying the front pages of the print media.

However, the President of Progressive Shareholders association of Nigeria, Boniface Okezie, explained that the exercise has not attracted the expected investments into the market.

According to him, it is expected that the ceremony would serve as a platform for listed firms to unfold their growth plans and present their scorecards to stockbrokers for share price appreciation.

He noted that in other exchanges across the world, due to the amount of coverage the opening and closing bells receive, many companies coordinate new product launch and other marketing-related events with the day their company representative rings the bell.

“The purpose of the exercise is to boost the market in terms of liquidity, volume of shares and attract new investments. Listed companies may also use the platform to inform stockbrokers on new products they are about to lunch or any other information that can boost their share price. But these are not happening.

“I have not seen the impact. They should look at how to improve on the exercise, so that it would be more impactful and add value to the market. Those undervalued stocks need to improve.

“We need the companies to come to the market and tell stockbrokers their growth plans so that it would lift their stock prices and in turn, grow the market.”