Economy
Flour Mills Lifts Local Stock Market by 0.51%
By Dipo Olowookere
The loss reported on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Monday was reversed on Tuesday on the back of renewed bargain-hunting.
The local stock market appreciated by 0.51 per cent yesterday after the share prices of Flour Mills and 20 others closed in the green territory.
Investor sentiment was strong during the trading day because only 13 equities finished on the losers’ table, indicating a positive market breadth index.
Flour Mills topped the gainers chart after it expanded by 9.93 per cent to N31.00, University Press improved by 9.81 per cent to N2.35, Chams grew by 9.37 per cent to N1.75, Geregu Power rose by 9.05 per cent to N343.50, and Thomas Wyatt gained 9.02 per cent to trade at N4.35.
On the flip side, VFD Group maintained its top spot on the losers’ log after it further dropped 9.98 per cent to sell for N218.20, ABC Transport declined by 9.88 per cent to 73 Kobo, FTN Cocoa depreciated by 3.70 per cent to N1.56, NGX Group shed 3.67 per cent to N21.00, and Vitafoam slumped by 3.44 per cent to N22.45.
Business Post reports that the insurance counter lost 0.46 per cent due to profit-taking, as the energy and industrial goods indices closed flat, while the banking and the consumer goods sectors appreciated by 1.44 per cent and 0.54 per cent, respectively.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) gained 340.85 points to close at 67,217.77 points compared with Monday’s 66,876.92 points and the market capitalisation appreciated by N188 billion to N36.930 trillion from N36.742 trillion.
The stock exchange was quite busy on Tuesday, resulting in an increase in the trading volume, value and the number of deals by 1.69 per cent, 43.18 per cent and 2.27 per cent apiece.
A total of 319.9 million equities worth N6.3 billion exchanged hands in 6,272 deals during the session versus the 314.6 million equities worth N4.4 billion transacted in 6,133 deals in the preceding day.
Access Holdings topped the activity chart after selling 50.8 million stocks valued at N838.0 million, GTCO traded 42.0 million shares worth N1.5 billion, Fidelity Bank transacted 32.1 million equities worth N264.1 million, UBA traded 25.7 million shares valued at N496.7 million, and Sterling Holdings sold 19.4 million equities for N70.0 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is seeking a reduction in import duty exemptions, which rose to N34 trillion, limiting its ability to increase its revenue generation threshold.
The Comptroller-General of the Customs Service, Mr Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed that the value of import duty exemption certificate approvals increased to that level in 2025, describing the policy as one of the major factors restricting its revenue generation.
At an investigative session of the Senate Committee on Finance with revenue-generating agencies in Abuja on Monday, Mr Adeniyi explained that government fiscal policies have continued to impact the revenue-generating capacity of the Customs Service, both positively and negatively.
“The NCS would have generated significantly higher revenue over the years if not for government-approved import duty waivers and other external factors affecting collections,” he said.
He added that the Import Duty Exemption Certificate scheme, introduced in March 2020, accounted for about N34 trillion in approvals in 2025, with nearly 60 per cent covering duty-free importation of military hardware due to Nigeria’s prevailing security challenges.
Other government-backed duty waivers, he noted, covered the importation of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), electric and hybrid vehicles, healthcare equipment and medical supplies, industrial machinery and manufacturing inputs, as well as food import intervention programmes.
While acknowledging the impact of the waivers on Customs revenue, Mr Adeniyi argued that fiscal policy should not be assessed solely on the basis of revenue generation but also on its broader economic and social objectives.
He, however, urged the federal government to establish stronger monitoring mechanisms to ensure beneficiaries of duty waivers deliver the intended economic outcomes, including lower consumer prices, increased local production and improved healthcare access.
The committee also expressed displeasure over the absence of several heads of government agencies invited to the hearing, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), and the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Mr Sani Musa, warned that the affected chief executives must appear at the committee’s next sitting or face severe sanctions under the Senate’s rules.
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By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.40 per cent on Monday, July 13, buoyed by buying interest in 11 Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and UBN Property Plc, which offset the profit-taking in Food Concepts Plc, the parent company of Chicken Republic.
11 Plc gained N20.69 to end at N227.64 per share compared with last Friday’s price of N206.95 per share, CSCS Plc grew by N1.83 to N91.48 per unit from N89.65 per unit, and UBN Property Plc added 1 Kobo to sell at N1.81 per share versus N1.80 per share.
On the flip side, Food Concepts Plc depreciated by 24 Kobo to close at N2.45 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N2.69 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation increased by N9.2 billion to N2.587 trillion from N2.578 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) improved by 15.33 points to 4,311.67 points from 4,296.34 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors surged by 615.9 per cent to 9.1 million units from the previous 1.3 million units, and the value of securities rose by 997.1 per cent to N320.4 million from the preceding session’s N29.2 million, while the number of deals decreased by 12.5 per cent to 28 deals from last Friday’s 32 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 73.9 million units exchanged for N5.2 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
