Economy
Banking Equities Crash NGX Index to 51,778.08 points
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited suffered one of its heaviest losses in recent times on Friday as it depreciated by 1.21 per cent as banking equities struggled to get patronage.
Yesterday, holders of stocks in the banking sector, especially those desperate to liquidate their holdings, lowered their prices to attract buyers but this strategy did not work as investors remain cautious of the macroeconomic environment and are limiting their exposure to the equity market.
The absence of a positive trigger weakened the All Share Index (ASI) by 633.01 points during the session to 51,778.08 points to 52,411.09 points and depleted the market capitalisation by N341 billion to N27.914 trillion from N28.255 trillion.
Business Post reports that the loss was across the main sectors of the exchange, with the banking counter the most hit as it fell by 2.31 per cent, followed by the consumer goods index, which dropped 0.64 per cent. The energy space lost 0.58 per cent, the insurance index went down by 0.24 per cent, while the industrial goods landscape declined by 0.01 per cent.
Only 10 equities gained points on the last trading day of the week as 24 stocks shed weight, with McNichols as the worst hit after its value went down by 9.76 per cent to N1.85.
Ardova lost 9.70 per cent to settle at N13.50, Livestock Feeds depreciated by 9.52 per cent to N1.33, International Breweries shed 9.42 per cent to sell for N6.25, while Courteville retreated by 9.26 per cent to 49 kobo.
Conversely, Ellah Lakes topped the gainers’ log with a price appreciation of 8.40 per cent to quote at N4.00, UAC Nigeria chalked up 6.48 per cent to trade at N11.50, Livingtrust Mortgage Bank appreciated by 5.26 per cent to N1.20, Mutual Benefits Assurance rose by 4.17 per cent to 25 kobo, while Fidelity Bank added 3.37 per cent to its value to sell for N3.37.
Jaiz Bank ended the session as the most traded stock with 40.7 million units sold for N37.2 million. UBA exchanged 35.7 million units for N269.4 million, Zenith Bank traded 33.2 million units worth N719.0 million, GTCO transacted 16.8 million units valued at N359.7 million, while Transcorp traded 10.9 million units valued at N14.0 million.
At the close of business, investors bought and sold 241.2 million shares worth N3.7 billion in 5,043 deals compared with the 211.6 million shares worth N2.4 billion transacted in 4,750 deals a day earlier, indicating an increase in the trading volume, value and number of deals by 13.98 per cent, 54.96 per cent and 6.17 per cent respectively.
By Adedapo Adesanya
A sub-group made up of eight members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) have brought forward a policy meeting by two days to May 3.
According to Argus, the meeting, initially scheduled to hold on Monday, May 5, will now hold on Saturday (tomorrow).
The eight countries — Saudi Arabia, Russia, the UAE, Kuwait, Iraq, Algeria, Oman and Kazakhstan — are meeting to decide on their crude production targets for June.
Sources say it was essentially for the convenience of a few oil ministers who would have struggled to make it on Monday.
In early April, the eight members decided to speed up plans to unwind a collective 2.2 million barrels per day of production cuts.
Saudi Arabia reportedly pushed for a larger-than-planned output hike from the eight members in May, a decision that helped send oil prices below $60 a barrel to a 4-year low.
The group is now expected to raise output by 411,000 barrels per day, three times the level agreed in December 2024.
Saudi Arabia, regarded as OPEC+ defacto leader and its biggest output cutting country, has been angered by Kazakhstan and Iraq producing above their OPEC+ targets.
The total 22-member group, which includes Nigeria, is currently cutting output by over 5 million barrels per day.
The group plans to hold a full ministerial meeting on May 28.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigerian billionaire entrepreneur, Mr Aliko Dangote, says he expects revenues from Dangote Group to grow more than $30 billion next year from about $25 billion projected in 2025 amid current trade uncertainties.
He made this disclosure on Thursday at an investment conference in Lagos, acknowledging the positive impact President Donald Trump’s tariffs would have on his urea exports to the US because major competitor Algeria had been slapped with a higher levy.
President Trump imposed a 14 per cent tariff on imports from Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil exporter, as part of widespread trade measures introduced last month, later paused for 90 days.
Comparatively, Algeria was subjected to a 30 per cent reciprocal tariff on its exports to the United States under President Trump’s Liberation Day tariff policy announced on April 2, 2025.
“But when I checked who we are really competing with, we are competing with Algeria. So, luckily for us Algeria were slapped with 30 per cent,” said Mr Dangote, adding that, “It actually makes us a bit comfortable.”
The tariff measure was part of a broader strategy to address perceived unfair trade practices by imposing higher tariffs on countries without formal trade agreements with the US.
President Trump’s tariffs spared oil and gas exports, allowing the Dangote Petroleum Refinery to continue selling its products to the US without disruption. This exemption provides a significant cushion for Mr Dangote’s broader business strategy, especially as the refinery ramps up output.
Mr Dangote also said that Dangote Fertiliser, which began commercial operations in 2022, shipped 37 per cent of its 3 million metric tonnes of urea production to the US.
Beyond the US, Dangote also exports urea to other key markets such as Brazil, which has historically relied on Russian fertilizer supplies, as well as India and Mexico.
Mr Dangote added that he expects his cement company to become Africa’s largest exporter next year, overtaking Egypt in the process.
“We are at about 53 million tons,” Mr Dangote said in reference to the production capacity of his plants. “By next year, we will be at 62 million tons of cement. We will be number one.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has revealed that 368,911 workers have changed their Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) and transferred their Retirement Savings Accounts worth N1.77 trillion to new PFAs under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) as of the end of March 2025.
The pension industry regulator disclosed this in its Quarterly Summary of Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) transferred by Pension Fund Administrators.
The transfer window allows a contributor under the CPS to move all his RSAs from his current PFA to another of his choice once in a year.
According to the figures, 27,701 workers transferred N191.1 billion in first quarter of 2025, 28,439 workers transferred N172.29 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024 while 23,226 workers transferred N141.87 billion in the third quarter of 2024; 20,993 workers transferred N128.87 billion in the second quarter.
Figures showed that 23,484 and 22,927 workers transferred N120.866 billion and N105.763 billion in the first quarter of 2024 and fourth quarter of 2023 respectively.
In the third quarter of 2023, 19,014 RSA holders changed their PFAs and moved N85.99 billion; 34,359 workers moved N158.6 billion in the second quarter of 2023; 24,963 moved N111.67 billion in the first quarter of 2023.
The figures disclosed that 2,799 contributors moved N18.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020; 12,681 contributors moved N47.78 billion in the first quarter of 2021; 10,166 moved N35.89 billion in the second quarter of 2021; 12,872 contributors moved N45.56 billion in the third quarter of 2021; while 12,874 contributors moved N42.49 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021.
It added that 12,336 contributors moved N36.36 billion in the first quarter of 2022; 14,821 moved N50.22 billion in the second quarter of 2022; 30,973 moved N143.1 billion in the third quarter of 2022; while 34,283 moved N131.76 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022.
In the fourth quarter of 2020, PenCom introduced the transfer window regulation which allowed workers to change their PFAs.
Section 13 of the Pension Reform Act 2014 specifies that a Retirement Savings Account holder may transfer his RSA from one PFA to another.
It added that such transfer should not be more than once a year.
The pension industry regulator stated that PFAs must only process requests for RSA holders registered on the Enhanced Contributor Registration System (ECRS) and those whose recaptured information had been successfully uploaded onto the system.
“PFAs shall only process RSA transfer requests for eligible RSA holders who have not transferred their RSAs within the last 365 days using the RTS, irrespective of whether it is a leap year or not,” it stated.
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