Managing Human Capital

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RESEARCH PROPOSAL

PROPOSED RESEARCH TITLE:

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE DOWNWARD TREND IN GLOBAL STOCK MARKETS: A CASE STUDY OF THE NIGERIAN STOCK MARKET

RESEARCH BRIEF

The history of stock trading and trading associations can be traced as far back as the 11th century when Jewish and Muslim merchants set up trade associations. After centuries of evolution, stock markets have become the symbol of commerce in the modern world. It operates in various countries and trades a range of securities. The world stock market capitalisation is estimated to be about $ 36.6 Trillion. The stock market has various functions such as capital mobilisation, investing opportunities, risk distribution etc. The major stock exchanges in the world today include New York Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Italian Stock Exchange, Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Tokyo Stock Exchange.

There have been various stock market crashes in the past such as the Wall Street crash of 1929, the crash of 1973/74, the 1987 crash; called black Monday, the dotcom bubble of 2000 and the more recent crash in 2008 caused by the subprime mortgage crisis in America. The economic crisis of 2008 which originated in America spread to various economies in the world and their stock markets were affected. It reduced the value of stocks around the world by as much as 41% and affected both major and emerging stock markets. The Nigerian stock market is an emerging market in Africa. After attaining the position of one of the most profitable, efficient and fastest growing equity market in the world, with a return on investment of up to 78% in 2007 the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) was seen as an investment haven.

On reaching an all time high of 66,371.2 points